Arsenal will host Aston Villa on the opening day. The first north London derby of the campaign is as early as on 31 August this season. The only worry is that the derby comes just a couple of days after we have played the second leg of the Champions League play-off. Remember what happened a couple of seasons ago when we had the tough qualifying against Udenese and then travelled to the Old Trafford. However, we should have sufficient depth in the squad this time around, provided we have a successful transfer window.
The first ten games look winnable and there is no reason why we shouldn't get off to a good start next season as we are expected to have a settled team to start a season for the first time in recent years.
The new season will see the new boys, namely Cardiff City, Hull City, and Crystal Palace, join the top-flight English league. There used to be a kind of bad blood between Hull City and us before they were safely relegated to the Championship, but hopefully, with Phil Brown no longer as manager, Hull City are a better football club. Talking about bad blood, it is interesting to see how Stoke will change their footballing style after Tony Pulis' departure.
International breaks for the World Cup qualifiers are scheduled in September and October, hence a fewer league fixtures during these two months. In fact, September and October are not as quiet as this list indicates. If we make it through to the Champions League group stages and progress to the fourth round in the Capital One Cup competition, we will be playing five and six games in September and October, respectively.
March appears to be a tough month as we travel to White Hart Lane and Stamford Bridge before hosting Man City. However, statistically Wenger's side normally boasts a good run of form in March. So let's hope it proves to be the case again next season.
The season finishes with a trip to Norwich on 11 May. This will be the fourth consecutive season that the last game of the season is played away, which I hate. It would have been nice to have the lap of appreciation on the final day of the season. In the last season when the final home game was rescheduled for a weekday night due to Wigan's involvement in the FA Cup final, the atmosphere was just not the same. The 2013/14 Premier League season will finish earlier than last year in order to accommodate the FA Cup final after the end of the domestic league campaigns. This is a welcome move, which gives back a prestigious status that it deserves to the world's oldest surviving football competition.
Please see below the Arsenal FC DRAFT fixtures for season 2013-2014, but don’t build your life around these dates as we would expect there to be many changes for TV, Cup games etc.
| AUGUST | ||
| Sat 17 | H | Aston Villa |
| Sat 24 | A | Fulham |
| Sat 31 | H | Tottenham Hotspur |
| SEPTEMBER | ||
| Sat 14 | A | Sunderland |
| Sat 21 | H | Stoke City |
| Sat 28 | A | Swansea City |
| OCTOBER | ||
| Sat 5 | A | West Bromwich Albion |
| Sat 19 | H | Norwich City |
| Sat 26 | A | Crystal Palace |
| NOVEMBER | ||
| Sat 2 | H | Liverpool |
| Sat 9 | A | Manchester United |
| Sat 23 | H | Southampton |
| Sat 30 | A | Cardiff City |
| DECEMBER | ||
| Tue 3 | H | Hull City |
| Sat 7 | H | Everton |
| Sat 14 | A | Manchester City |
| Sat 21 | H | Chelsea |
| Thu 26 | A | West Ham United |
| Sat 28 | A | Newcastle United |
| JANUARY | ||
| Wed 1 | H | Cardiff City |
| Sat 11 | A | Aston Villa |
| Sat 18 | H | Fulham |
| Tue 28 | A | Southampton |
| FEBRUARY | ||
| Sat 1 | H | Crystal Palace |
| Sat 8 | A | Liverpool |
| Tue 11 | H | Manchester United |
| Sat 22 | H | Sunderland |
| MARCH | ||
| Sat 1 | A | Stoke City |
| Sat 8 | H | Swansea City (or FA Cup Q/F) |
| Sat 15 | A | Tottenham Hotspur |
| Sat 22 | A | Chelsea |
| Sat 29 | H | Manchester City |
| APRIL | ||
| Sat 5 | A | Everton |
| Sat 12 | H | West Ham United (or FA Cup S/F) |
| Sat 19 | A | Hull City |
| Sat 26 | H | Newcastle United |
| MAY | ||
| Sat 3 | H | West Bromwich Albion |
| Sun 11 | A | Norwich City |
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