Mikel Arteta and Arsenal step outside the M25 just once between now and late January.
Mikel Arteta and Arsenal step outside the M25 just once between now and late January.
This time last year Mikel Arteta was plotting a mid-season trip to Dubai that would breathe new life into Arsenal ’s season.
But now he is banking on home comforts over the next six weeks to give them an edge in the title race. While the Gunners gear up for tomorrow’s Champions League visit of Monaco to the Emirates, their three domestic rivals are flying here, there and everywhere as the hectic festive fixture list takes hold.
Between returning from beating Sporting Lisbon 5-1 at the end of November to visiting Wolves in late January, Arteta’s team will have travelled fewer than 200 miles for 14 fixtures.
And despite a number of key injuries to contend with, venturing no farther than Brighton is light work compared to Chelsea, Manchester City and Arne Slot ’s league leaders.
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Chelsea left Tottenham on Sunday evening having established themselves as bonafide title contenders – but with the dread of a trip to the south-eastern tip of Kazakhstan in the back of their minds.
Enzo Maresca will keep a bunch of his biggest names at home for the Conference League game against Astana on Thursday but those who make the 8,500-mile round trip to Almaty face an exhausting turnaround.
Sunday’s Premier League game at home to Brentford has been pushed back to 7pm so they can maximise recovery time. Yet flying through five time zones will take a heavy mental and physical toll.
Up until now Maresca has split his squad in two – one for the league, one for the cups. But these demands may call for more fusion and last week he told his second string “there will be ample chances to shine.”
Pep Guardiola's Man City take on Juventus on Wednesday ( Image: PA)
Chelsea plan to train at home early tomorrow morning before jumping on a flight that takes eight hours if the wind is in their favour.
By that point Liverpool will already be home from a visit to Girona, where a win should guarantee a bypass around the new Champions League play-off round.
But Slot’s team, who are waiting for a new date to play Everton following Saturday’s postponement, face three round trips of 400-plus miles between December 18 to 29 having had a difficult night in Newcastle last week while Arsenal were beating Manchester United at home.
Mid-January brings trips to fifth-placed Nottingham Forest and Brentford, who have the best home form of anyone so far but also host Arsenal and City in the first two weeks of the new year.
Rubbing salt into City’s wounds, Pep Guardiola ’s players learnt that Storm Darragh had grounded the club’s plane home from Saturday’s draw at Crystal Palace.
That left them with not far off five hours on a coach to reflect on why so much is going wrong for a thin squad already out of fuel.
Today they fly to Juventus needing a win to maintain hopes of a play-off bye with a Manchester derby to come at the weekend.
Downcast Guardiola may have reiterated that his players are running on empty at Selhurst Park. And while Christmas is kind the prospect of travelling to Brentford, Ipswich and Paris across eight days next month could drain their batteries again.
The existence of seven London clubs in the Premier League means the farther north you are the more distance there is to travel throughout a season. But this quirk in the scheduling is one Arsenal must use to their benefit.
“I think it may help,” midfielder Jorginho said last week. “We need to try and use our strength at home to win as much as possible.”
Fail to capitalise on this short-term advantage, though, and their road towards glory will become a longer one.
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