By Tony Attwood
Liverpool and Arsenal will both take part in a specially created Dubai Super Cup in December, to help prepare for the return of competitive football after Christmas. .
The matches will take place in Dubai in a mini-league also including AC Milan and Lyon and Liverpool who Arsenal will not be playing. Games take place between December 8 and 16.
All the four matches will be held at the Al-Maktoum Stadium in dubai, with the rather eccentric points tally being three for a win and two for a draw.
All the matches will then go to penalties irrespective of the result and an additional point will be awarded to the winner and then added to the league table, not that anyone will be particularly interested in who wins. The number of substitutes allowed per game has not been revealed but is likely to be high, if not unlimited.
Speaking on the subject Arteta said, “It’s an easy trip as one of the biggest sponsors we have in Emirates is part of it, plus we’ve been there and know the facilities and it’s a really good environment to work,” he is reported as saying by the Arsenal website.
“The weather is spectacular and then the World Cup is so close, so for any player that is around there, it is so easy to get them back straight away. I think it ticks all the boxes that we need.
“We need good preparation mentally and physically to be ready for the huge demands that the second part of the season is going to bring to the team.”
The schedule for the rest of the year now looks like this
- WC Group stage: 20 November – 2 December
- WC Round of 16: 3 December – 6 December
- Arsenal v Lyon: 8 December
- WC Quarterfinals: 9 December – 10 December
- WC Semifinals: 13 December – 14 December
- Arsenal v Milan: 13 December
- WC Third-place match: 17 December
- WC Final: 18 December
- Arsenal v West Ham: 26 December. 8pm kick off.
- Brighton v Arsenal: 31 December. 5.30pm kick off.
These two Arsenal games against West Ham and Brighton for the restart of the season look winnable when we look at the form table for the last six matches before the interruption of football
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 16 |
| 2 | Newcastle | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 10 | 16 |
| 3 | Leicester | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 13 |
| 4 | Man City | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 12 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 12 |
| 6 | Man Utd | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 11 |
| 7 | Crystal Palace | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 10 |
| 8 | Tottenham | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 9 |
| 9 | Brentford | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 8 | -1 | 9 |
| 10 | Aston Villa | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 9 |
| 11 | Fulham | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 8 |
| 12 | Nott’m Forest | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | -4 | 8 |
| 13 | Brighton | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 7 |
| 14 | Leeds | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 14 | -3 | 6 |
| 15 | Chelsea | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 5 |
| 16 | Southampton | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 5 |
| 17 | Bournemouth | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 12 | -2 | 4 |
| 18 | West Ham | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 4 |
| 19 | Everton | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 | -5 | 4 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 12 | -7 | 4 |
More on these games as we get closer. Meanwhile, we have the sad news that Arsenal women lost at home to Manchester United last night. They are still top of the table but now only on goal difference.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||
| 1 | Arsenal | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 4 | 16 | 18 |
| 2 | Manchester United | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 5 | 13 | 18 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 6 | 11 | 18 |
| 4 | Manchester City | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 8 | 9 | 15 |
More anon.
Will Arsenal win the league this season?
- The simple statistic that shows that Arsenal are on course to win the league
- Are Arsenal really playing like a title winning team in attack and defence?
- Arsenal’s 25 man squad, and how it will accomodate the under 21s as they move up.
