The Premier League fixtures come out shortly, so we thought we’d take a look at Arsenal’s opening fixtures in recent seasons…
For a club with such vast resources, excellent personnel and valuable Premier League experience, Arsenal have a dreadful record on the opening day of the season.
Since the Premier League was formed in 1992, Arsenal have failed to win in 12 of their 25 opening day matches.
Worse still, from 2010 till now, Arsenal have won once in their opening fixture.
Considering Arsenal finished one point behind Liverpool this season, the club that poignantly beat them on the opening day of the season – then it’s easy to see how devastating the opening day result can be.
Although Arsenal can swallow the potential £50million loss from Champions League revenue, the opening day defeat to Liverpool has damaged the club’s ability to recruit this summer.
A quick look back over recent years exposes a worrying trend in Arsenal’s maiden day fixtures…
2011/12
In 2010/11, despite being gifted an own goal by Pepe Reina, Arsenal failed to beat a team that finished sixth that season. Their performance was lacklustre and spoke of a team who had failed to prepare.
Arsenal started the game with both Marouane Chamakh and Laurent Koscielny making their Arsenal debuts. Whilst Koscielny has been an undoubted success at Arsenal, he was having to make the step up from the French second division.
Chamakh, although he impressed against Liverpool, was subsequently deemed not good enough for the Gunners. On the day, Arsenal were unable to find a winning goal, much owing to completing the match with 10 men following a red card to Laurent Koscielny (although Liverpool were also reduced in numbers following the sending off of Joe Cole).
Drawing with Liverpool away from home is not an unreasonable result but it was the beginning of a worrying trend for Arsenal as the club failed to adhere to their billing as match day favourite’s in six of the following seven opening day contests.
Since then one could suggest that Arsenal have failed to learn their lesson in the importance of preparation.
In 2011 and 2012, Arsenal failed to beat the North-East duo of Newcastle and Sunderland – as both clubs managed to keep clean sheets respectively. One of those results may be excused as Arsenal had just sold talisman Robin van Persie and were forced to give debuts to two strikers (Podolski and Giroud).
However, there is still a belief that a greater deal of preparation would have seen Arsenal get the goals they needed to win both ties. Similar to other opening day results, Arsenal were forced to complete the Newcastle match with 10 men after Gervinho was sent off.
Yet these are not the worst results fans have been subjected to in recent years…
2013/14
In 2013/14, Arsenal managed to lose 3-1 to Aston Villa at the Emirates.
Arsene Wenger chose to start with a midfield duo of Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere. Against Villa’s powerful midfield, led by Fabian Delph on the day, the Arsenal duo struggled to influence the game.
For all their talent, neither Wilshere nor Ramsey had sufficient knowledge of central midfield to get the better of their counterparts. This is something Wenger should have addressed before the Aston Villa fiasco.
To make matters worse, Wenger had, to date, only signed young French striker Yaya Sanogo. With the result allowing Arsenal’s opponents to get an early march on them in the title hunt, it was clear that Arsenal were yet again underprepared in their opening game of the season.
In 2015/16, Arsenal were once again subjected to defeat at the hands of a ‘lesser’ rival.
On the day, Gunners’ fans were treated to a similar apathetic performance that has become synonymous with Arsenal on the opening day of the season. Man of the match, Reece Oxford, a 16 year old school boy for West Ham looked like a man amongst boys as Arsenal’s error-strewn performance led to two, quite preventable, goals breaching the Arsenal net.
The first was a mistake by experienced goalkeeper Petr Cech, the second came after loose passes from both Coquelin and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain. Similar to other opening day defeats, the crowd were frustrated with Arsenal’s lack of spending over the summer months and were vociferous in their frustrations…
2016/17
In 2016/17 Arsenal were handed a particularly tricky fixture, taking on Liverpool at the Emirates. Despite some encouraging play, with Santi Cazorla impressing in central midfield as a second half substitute, the Gunners were on the wrong side of a seven goal thriller.
Arsenal were again left embarrassed following a lack of investment over the summer that saw the London club start the game with Calum Chambers and Rob Holding at the heart of their defence.
Despite the relative inexperience of the backline, Arsenal led the game by a single goal before Coutinho replied just before the break. Having conceded before half time, one would have thought Arsenal had sufficient time to regroup and respond.
However, Liverpool hit three more past the Gunners in a 15 minute salvo that obliterated Arsenal’s hopes of a positive result. Two late goals made the score-line respectable. Yet, Arsenal again demonstrated their infuriating lack of ability to prepare.
Arsenal’s results speak of a club that is negligible in their preseason preparations. Although Wenger is quite vocal and insistent about the importance of a strong preseason camp with little in the way of PR stunts and activities, Arsenal have had to play along with the overseas media circus.
Yet, it is not unreasonable to suggest that Wenger often fails in his own preparations; inadequate recruitment paired with granting players additional holiday time and struggling to integrate new signings with the current squad have all commingled to thwart the club’s long-term title aspirations.
On the 14th of June, Arsenal will discover who they will play on the opening day of the season. That will give them roughly two months to prepare. If they are to compete this season, then there can be no excuses on the opening day of the season. The squad must be assessed. Players must be fit. Transfers must be done. Friendlies must be utilised to establish a style of play and to integrate new signings.
The boss must take control; otherwise, one would imagine that the booing and chants may be more raucous and damaging than ever before.