I was curious about the narrative that Arsenal have played harder games, so wanted to look at it. We've both played 7 of the top 10, they've played 3 home, 4 away, we've played 4 home, 3 away. However, we've been to their place, they haven't come to ours, so I would say that's even.
You could maybe make the argument that Newcastle and United would be top half. Newcastle we've both played away, United I just wouldn't call a difficult away game, traditionally it's always been hard for Arsenal which is why they say as much.
You would probably expect Sunderland to drop, removing one of their top half away games and they have 7 players at AFCON when we go there.
They've also play 4 of the bottom 5, 6 of the bottom 7, most at home which are essentially gimmes.
| Arsenal | | City | |
| Home | Away | Home | Away |
| 1. Arsenal 33 points | N/A | N/A | (18 Apr)* | 1 point |
| 2. City 31 points | 1 point | (18 Apr)* | N/A | N/A |
| 3. Villa 30 points | (30 Dec) | 0 points | (24 May)* | 0 points |
| 4. Chelsea 25 points | (28 Feb)* | 1 point | (4 Jan) | (11 Apr)* |
| 5. Everton 24 points | (14 Mar)* | (20 Dec) | 3 points | (2 May)* |
| 6. Crystal Palace 23 points (14g) | 3 points | (24 May)* | (21 Mar)* | (14 Dec) |
| 7. Sunderland 23 points | (7 Feb)* | 1 point | 3 points | (1 Jan) |
| 8. Liverpool 23 points | (8 Jan) | 0 points | 3 points | (7 Feb)* |
| 9. Spurs 22 points | 3 points | (21 Feb)* | 0 points | (1 Feb) |
| 10. Brighton 22 points (14g) | (27 Dec) | (4 Mar)* | (7 Jan) | 0 points |
| 11. Newcastle 22 points | (25 Apr)* | 3 points | (21 Feb)* | 0 points |
| 12. United 22 points (14g) | (25 Jan) | 3 points | 3 points | (17 Jan) |
| 13. Bournemouth 20 points | (11 Apr)* | (3 Jan) | 3 points | (17 May)* |
| 14. Brentford 19 points | 3 points | (11 Feb)* | (9 May)* | 3 points |
| 15. Fulham 17 points (14g) | (2 May)* | 3 points | (11 Feb)* | 3 points |
| 16. Leeds 15 points | 3 points | (31 Jan) | 3 points | (28 Feb)* |
| 17. Forest 15 points | 3 points | (17 Jan) | (4 Mar)* | (27 Dec) |
| 18. West Ham 12 points (14g) | 3 points | (9 May)* | (20 Dec) | (14 Mar)* |
| 19. Burnley 10 points | (17 May)* | 3 points | 3 points | (25 Apr)* |
| 20. Wolves 2 points (14g) | (13 Dec) | (21 Mar)* | (24 Jan) | 3 points |
Now I'm not expecting us to win the title this season, I do think Arsenal have looked better so far but I am optimistic that it could start clicking for us soon, granted we've only 14 or 15 players I trust.
Ultimately though, the point of the post is that I think our fixtures have been pretty even and we've had the benefit of going to their place already...And we were a last minute goal away there from being 1 point top ourselves.