Starting the season at home doesn’t actually help Arsenal

Countering a popular North London conspiracy theory

The fixtures for the 2009-10 season are released on Wednesday and the luck of the draw can have a significant impact on a team’s fortunes.

Cynical? Well take the example of Stoke, who faced the Big Four seven times in their opening 22 fixtures last season. By the end of that period they were in the relegation zone with 21 points but it mean that they had 15 successive games against tiring, less intimidating teams before facing Arsenal on the final day. They took 24 points from those games, guaranteeing safety with two games to spare and rendering a 4-1 loss at the Emirates irrelevant.

There’s a popular conspiracy theory among Tottenham fans that the fixture generators favour Arsenal and neglect them, which is backed up by the fact the Gunners have started 13 of their 17 Premier League campaigns at home, while Spurs have kicked off just four of theirs at White Hart Lane.

Those figures suggest that they have a case, although they don’t take into account that Arsenal actually fare better when they start on the road.

Posted: June 15th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | 2 Comments