Arsenal’s 2022-23 Premier League fixtures released

The Premier League released the 2022-23 fixture list earlier today. As expected, Arsenal will play every team twice — once at the Emirates and once away. Like last season, the Gunners play the first match of the year in the competition away to a London rival. It’s Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Friday, August 5th.

My overall take — it’s a schedule. October looks like a tricky month with home matches against Tottenham, Liverpool, and Manchester City and nine (9) fixtures overall. April also sticks out with trips to Liverpool and Manchester City, and Chelsea at the Emirates. A January slate of Newcastle at home, Tottenham away, Manchester United at home is a tough run, too.

With Arsenal back in Europe (and the Carabao Cup, and the FA Cup), there will be plenty of football to go around. Any stretch of the season can turn tricky in a flash depending on injuries and available rest days.

The season starts a week earlier and ends a week later to accommodate the World Cup 2022 in Qatar. The Premier League will break from November 13th through December 26th (Boxing Day) for the tournament. The silver lining to this World Cup-affected schedule is that there will only be two additional international breaks during the season, September 19th-27th and March 20th-28th. Each of those windows will have two matches instead of the usual three.

Here is the schedule with all the Europa League, cups, and international dates added. Home matches are listed in bold. Arsenal won’t necessarily have all the listed fixtures — obviously the Carabao Cup QF date isn’t relevant if they’ve been knocked out before then, for example. The Europa League knockout round playoff takes place between the group stage runners-up and the clubs that drop down from the Champions League. If you win your group, you avoid those fixtures altogether.

August
5th - @ Crystal Palace
13th - Leicester City
20th - @ Bournemouth
27th - Fulham
30th - Aston Villa

September
3rd - @ Manchester United
8th - Europa League MD1
10th - Everton
15th - Europa League MD2
17th - @ Brentford
19th - 27th - INTERNATIONAL BREAK

October
1st - Tottenham
6th - Europa League MD3
8th - Liverpool
13th - Europa League MD4
15th - @ Leeds
18th - Manchester City
22nd - @ Southampton
27th - Europa League MD5
29th - Nottingham Forest

November
3rd - Europa League MD6
5th - @ Chelsea
9th - Carabao Cup 3rd Round
12th - @ Wolves
13th - WORLD CUP BREAK

December
WORLD CUP BREAK ENDS
21st - Carabao Cup 4th Round
26th - West Ham
31st - @ Brighton & Hove Albion

January
2nd - Newcastle
7th - FA Cup 3rd Round
11th - Carabao Cup QF
14th - @ Tottenham
21st - H Manchester United
25th - Carabao Cup SF Leg 1
28th - FA Cup 4th Round

February
1st - Carabao Cup SF Leg 2
4th - @ Everton
11th - Brentford
16th - Europa League knockout round playoff Leg 1 (if necessary)
18th - @ Aston Villa
23rd - Europa League knockout round playoff Leg 2
25th - @ Leicester City
26th - Carabao Cup Final

March
1st - FA Cup 5th Round
4th - Bournemouth
9th - Europa League Round of 16 Leg 1
11th - @ Fulham
16th - Europa League Round of 16 Leg 2
18th - Crystal Palace / FA Cup QF
20th - 28th - INTERNATIONAL BREAK

April
1st - Leeds United
8th - @ Liverpool
13th - Europa League QF Leg 1
15th - @ West Ham
20th - Europa League QF Leg 2
22nd - Southampton / FA Cup SF
26th - @ Manchester City
29th - Chelsea

May
6th - @ Newcastle United
11th - Europa League SF Leg 1
13th - Brighton & Hove Albion
18th - Europa League SF Leg 2
20th - @ Nottingham Forest
28th - Wolves
31st - Europa League Final

June
3rd - FA Cup Final

The schedule is not set in stone. Matches will be shifted around (hopefully) because of cup runs, European competition, and the whims of broadcasters. In fact, all the Premier League matches after Europa League group stage fixtures will need to change. Right now Arsenal are scheduled for Thursday-Saturday for each. All six of those matches should shift to Sunday or Monday.

There is also the possibility of match postponements due to a hypothetical COVID-19 wave at some point during the season, although after the glut of changes last season, the Premier League made it more difficult, requirement-wise, to have a fixture delayed.

Arsenal will face Everton, Brentford, Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham Forest, and Chelsea after Europa League midweeks in the fall. It may be a blessing in disguise that the Gunners have Liverpool and Chelsea for two of the six because while those sides will have a bit more rest after a Champions League on Tuesday / Wednesday, they will have played at the midweek as opposed to Arsenal having all six matches against fully rested sides. I also expect the Mikel Arteta to rotate heavily for the Europa League, so hopefully the bulk of the first-choice players will be fresh regardless.

I’d also like to highlight that April 26th away match against Manchester City. It’s about that time that Arsenal will be hitting the 93 point threshold, which was the total City won the league with this season. And, of course, that final match on May 28th against Wolves when Arsenal will wrap up their second Invincible season. Nice that they’ve got that one at the Emirates.