With Champions League kicking off this evening and having faced Swansea just 3 days before they visit Valencia I thought I'd check if there was a chance of us meeting any of the teams involved in Europe in the same weeks that they have or will have big European ties the same week which would obviously be an advantage in my opinion, particularly in the key stretch in Feb-April.
Nov 2nd - Arsenal A .... @ Dortmund Nov 6th, followed by @ Man Utd Nov 10th
Dec 15th - Spurs A.... vs Anzhi Makhachkala Dec 12th
Dec 26th - Man City A.... vs Crystal Palace Dec 28th, and @ Swansea Jan 1st
Dec 28th - Chelsea A .... vs Swansea Dec 26th, and @Southampton Jan 1st
Feb 8th - Arsenal H.... no European fixtures
Feb 22nd - Swansea H .... Europa League Round of 32 first legs will be played on 20 February, and the second legs will be played on 27 February 2014.
Mar 15th - Man Utd A ... Champions League Quarterfinals second legs will be played on 11, 12, 18 and 19 March 2014.
Mar 29th - Tottenham H... Europa League Quarterfinals first legs will be played on 3 April
Apr 12th - Man City H ... Champions League Quarterfinal second legs will be played on 8 and 9 April 2014.
Apr 26th - Chelsea H... Champions League Semifinal first legs will be played on 22 and 23 April, and the second legs will be played on 29 and 30 April 2014.
Based on the champions league and Europa league schedules it would seem that our fixtures against the top teams does coincide perfectly with big games in Europe. As such, it would be in our best interest if:
- Swansea make it to the round of 32 in Europa league
- Man Utd, Man City, and Spurs make QF of CL and EL respectively
- Chelsea make the Semifinal of CL
As an aside, its ridiculous that we have both Chelsea and Man City away two days apart when those are potentially the two toughest fixtures of the entire year given that they were the bookies' top two to win the league this year.
All in all, with exception to the busy Christmas period its a very good schedule for us (presuming the english teams do well in Europe) with home games down the stretch against most of our direct rivals during weeks where they have important European fixtures.