The Arsenal fixture list for 2008 – 2009 has been released, starting with a home game against newly promoted West Brom. They were never a classy team during their previous spells in the Premiership, but their form in last season’s Championship and FA Cup suggests to me that they might be a little better this time around, a high scoring team but defensively questionable.

A foreseeable problem is that away games surrounding the earlier Champions League matches like a fog, and this caused Arsenal problems last season. The team dropped points in similar matches – remember Wigan, or Middlesbrough?

The season might also have an interesting finale, the last 6 games include Liverpool away, Chelsea at home and Man Utd away. This is similar to last season, and those late games were devastating. The squad will hopefully learn from their experience last season, come back as a better team, and keep their concentration.