First up is West Brom!

There was a time when you didn’t know who Arsenal were playing until you got to the gate to pay your money to get through the turnstiles. Now the full fixture list is poured over in eager anticipation by those determined to second guess the pattern of the whole season ahead.

The event is heralded by blogosphere promising to get as close as they can to being first out with the information with much the same enthusiasm and fanfare as a docklands winebar serving the first of the Beaujolais Nouvelle.

At least it promises land ahead. Adrift in a sea of ever confused and fanciful transfer stories – where newspapers in England post the rumours listed in Spanish newspapers which are in turn published as Italian newspaper inventions which are in turn published in Spanish newspapers which are amplified in English papers and so on and so on – at least the fixture list shows us that one day real football will begin again.

Anyway, first up is home to newly promoted West Brom on the 16th August followed by away to Fulham and home to Newcastle. Not too bad a start methinks.

We get to face the first of the big three when ManU come to the Emirates in November and three of the last six games include games against ManU, Liverpool and Chelsea. We should be so far ahead by then that we could probably freewheel those ones.

Real football – bring it on!



Full list of fixtures available at Arsenal.com