PLANNING 6 PHASES: RACE TO 94
Fixture lists are OUT, and guess what? Things flowed nicely for City. Once again, they have an easy start so they can warm into their tougher games and their finish is pitifully easy again. Mad that, isn’t it?
Professional clubs break seasons down into phases so they can manage loads and create mini-targets that keep everyone on track. If you’re a few points down in one phase, you have to work out how to make them up in another. People always whine when I do this, but don’t blame me, it’s how the pros do it (though it’s worth noting, this might not be how Arsenal exactly phase the segments).
Let’s go phase by phase.
PHASE 1:
Target: 7 points
Hard to get your head around how tough our opening games are. Not because we can’t beat these sides, more the fact we have to be on fire from Day One if we want to get the max points. In contrast, City has Chelsea, Ipswich, Brentford, and West Ham before meeting us.
Our start next season won’t be derailed by big changes to the starting 11, but we do have a number of big names who might be struggling to be fit for the opener after Copa America and Euro 2024.
This phase is also annoying because you’re getting Villa away BEFORE they crash during their Champions League phase.
AUGUST
Sat 17 Wolverhampton Wanderers (H)
Sat 24 Aston Villa (A)
Sat 31 Brighton & Hove Albion (H)
PHASE 2:
Target: 10 points
So right after an international break we get Spurs and Manchester City back-to-back away from him. No time to really prepare, two monster games, it really is quite astonishing that our start is this brutal. The only salve here is that if we can take 4 points from those two games, you have two relegated banker teams to kill off and pump your goal difference.
It’s also worth noting that Champions League is likely to be wedged between those two mega games. We could be on the road 3 times in a week… even worse news, we’re basically 3 games a week until the end of the year when we enter this part of the season. Squad depth and trust are going to be majorly important, especially after a summer of international football.
The pain of this phase could be really problematic, but if you’re a savage masochist, maybe killing two rivals early could be the tone-setter for the season.
SEPTEMBER
Sat 14 Tottenham Hotspur (A)
Sat 21 Manchester City (A)
Sat 28 Leicester City (H)
OCTOBER
Sat 5 Southampton (H)