The fixture list for the 2022-23 Premier League season was released on Thursday morning, and Arsenal face an early test to a stadium that has not been a happy hunting ground for them in recent memory.
Patrick Vieira's Crystal Palace play host to the Gunners in the first fixture of the new season at Selhurst Park, as the North London side aim to avoid another 3-0 drubbing versus their capital counterparts.
Mikel Arteta will also have European football in the form of the Europa League to take into account, as well as the FA Cup, EFL Cup and World Cup as he bids to get Arsenal back to the promised land of Champions League football.
Here, Sports Mole picks out some of the key talking points from Arsenal's 2022-23 Premier League fixture list.
OPENING-DAY DERBIES
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Not since the 2018-19 season have Arsenal begun a Premier League campaign at the Emirates Stadium, and the trip to Palace will therefore mark the fourth year in a row that the Gunners start the new season away from home.
Since prevailing over Newcastle United by a narrow margin in August 2019, Arsenal have - rather incredibly - faced two London derbies away from home, and August's clash at Selhurst Park will therefore mark a third successive capital clash on their travels.
Arteta's side swept aside Fulham in 2020 before slumping to a humiliating opening-day loss to Brentford last term, but Gunners fans should look at the start of the season with quiet optimism.
Indeed, Arsenal do not face any Big Six sides in the first five weeks of the season and have clashes against newly-promoted Fulham and Bournemouth to look forward to in August, while a trip to Manchester United on September 3 is not as daunting as it would have been 10 years ago.
HALLOWEEN HORRORS
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By October, Arsenal's Europa League group-stage campaign will be in full swing, and the Gunners could hardly have been handed a more challenging run of games over that period in what may prove to be a Halloween horror show for Arteta.
The first two fixtures of the month will see the Emirates crowd play host to North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, and the Gunners will have their third Europa League group-stage game sandwiched in between those clashes.
Arsenal must quickly return to European action after the visit of Liverpool, and champions Manchester City will then make the journey to North London on October 18, with trips to Southampton and Leeds United coming either side of that game.
Arsenal's squad depth will truly have to come to the fore during the October period, with the Gunners aiming to seal progress in the Europa League and hold their own against the Premier League's big boys that month, and the need for a massive summer transfer window may have just become that little bit greater.
APRIL CHALLENGES
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By the start of April, Arsenal's EFL Cup fate would have already been sealed, but the Gunners could still be competing for success on three fronts in the Premier League, Europa League and FA Cup.
The visit of Leeds United to kick off the month may not be all that fearsome, but look away Gooners, as Arteta must prepare his side for trips to Anfield and the Etihad in the space of three weeks.
West Ham United also await Arsenal at the London Stadium on April 15, which comes seven days after their trip to Liverpool and 11 days before they make the trek to the champions. If that was not enough, Chelsea travel to the Emirates on April 29.
Should Arsenal progress to the quarter-finals of the Europa League, those two legs will be played on April 13 and April 20. The FA Cup semi-finals will also take place on April 22, which could force a rescheduling of their home fixture with Southampton.
The Gunners will get all of their Big Six clashes out of the way before May, but the April period will likely make or break their domestic season before the run-in becomes slightly more bearable.
Ben Knapton
