Arsenal managed to come away from the Champions League draw today with a fairly okay-ish group from which the Gunners should advance. UEFA has also released the schedule for the group stages, so let's have a look at the fixtures:
Tuesday Sept. 16: Borussia Dortmund (A)
Wednesday Oct. 1: Galatasaray (H)
Wednesday Oct. 22: Anderlecht (A)
Tuesday Nov. 4: Anderlecht (H)
Wednesday Nov. 26: Borussia Dortmund (H)
Tuesday Dec. 9: Galatasaray (A)
So. The main bummer in that calendar is that, should we need a result on the last matchday, we have to get it in Istanbul, where they like to make their pitches out of shredded up old automobiles and green spraypaint. Hopefully we've secured our spot in the table by the ninth of December, and we can just send Ryo Miyaichi and ten junior mascots onto the field for the day.
Let's have a look at how the matches fall into the rest of Arsenal's schedule:
Sa Manchester City (H) - Tu BvB Dortmund (A) - Sa Aston Villa (A)
Sa Tottenham Hotspur (H) - We Galatasaray (H) - Su Chelsea (A)
Sa Hull City (H) - We Anderlecht (A) - Sa Sunderland (A)
Sa Burnley (H) - Tu Anderlecht (H) - Su Swansea (A)
Sa Manchester United (H) - We BvB (H) - Sa West Bromwich Albion (A)
Sa Stoke City (A) - Tu Galatasaray (A) - Sa Newcastle United (H)
The worst week of the bunch there is probably the second fixture, with Spurs and Chelsea bracketing Galatasaray's visit to the Emirates, but that first week isn't super easy (away trips to Villa fill me with dread for some reason), and I'm not lovin' that last week going to Istanbul after Stoke probably try to commit manslaughter on the pitch at the Britannia.
However, I also know that we're going to come out of the first three fixtures with nine points. Do you know how I know? Did you catch it?
Here, let me show you:
Tuesday Sept. 16: Borussia Dortmund (A)
Wednesday Oct. 1: Galatasaray (H)
Wednesday Oct. 22: Anderlecht (A)
See it now?
It was foretold, and it shall come to pass.