Happy New Year!
I can’t believe it’s already January, but I’m glad it is.
2016 has been long and not too memorable for us Arsenal fans, but it wasn’t all that bad. There will be tons of articles with reviews so I’m going to look forward to what January brings.
And it doesn’t look bad at all, even though we have a possible 7 matches in 31 days.
I predict all wins, as always, because I never learn.
We open the new year at home to Crystal Palace, a fairly easy opponent with a new “old” manager. This should be a great start of 2017 with an easy win for Arsenal, but alas, you never know!
Only 2 days after that (thanks, FA!), we are traveling to Bournemouth to see Jack Wilshere, although he won’t be able to play against us. Again, shouldn’t be a tough job, we won against them at the Emirates only a little over a month ago.
After dropping out of the EFL Cup, we have a chance to get a longer run in FA Cup, our favourite. First opponent in round 3 is lower league club Preston North End. It will definitely be a great trip for away fans and should be an easy win for Arsenal. The draw for Round 4 is probably on Monday after that match, and, if we do win, the round 4 game will be played on January 28th.
January continues with 3 more league fixtures, all very much winnable. On 14th we travel to Wales to Swansea. The first match against them this season ended 3-2 at the Emirates and it wasn’t easy at all, but perhaps Theo will be fit by then to put more goals in their net.
The month ends with 2 home league fixtures (plus FA Cup in between, could be home or away) against struggling teams. The first match against Burnley was a nerve-wrecker, where we managed to win 1-0 with a scrappiest goal ever by Koscielny in last minute. Hopefully this one will be much easier!
On the last day of January, we host Watford, whom we met back in August in our first win in the league this season – 3-1. A win is again a must here, to end January on a high note and prepare for a tough visit to Stamford Bridge in first week of February.
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