Arsenal given brutal start to 2025/26 Premier League: Gunners' early-season fixture schedule threatens title hopes

The fixture schedule for the 2025/26 Premier League season was released on June 18.

The campaign begins on Friday, August 15, with champions Liverpool hosting Bournemouth at Anfield. The biggest game, though, will be on the Sunday of that week.

Arsenal, runners-up for three seasons running, begin their latest title challenge with a visit to Manchester United. The Red Devils might have endured an historically bad league season in 2024/25, but this nonetheless represents a tricky opening assignment for Mikel Arteta and his players.

Things don't get much easier for the Gunners over the first few weeks of the season, either.

MORE: Full list of opening Premier League games

Arsenal given brutal start to 2025/26 Premier League

Arsenal start their Premier League season away to Manchester United on August 17, and things do not look much simpler from there.

The Gunners host Leeds United on matchday two, which is a game they will be expected to win, although Leeds will carry with them an element of the unknown given they only won promotion last season.  

On matchday three, Arsenal head to Anfield to face champions Liverpool, and their first game back after the September international break sees them visit Nottingham Forest — a fixture that proved the undoing of plenty of big sides last season. A week later, they host Manchester City at Emirates Stadium, and matchday six sees them travel to Newcastle United, where they lost twice in 2024/25 in league and cup play.

Excluding Leeds, Arsenal managed only four points from these same games in 2024/25.

Arsenal's first six Premier League games 2025/26

*The below dates are provisional, except for the opening matchday

According to data provided by Opta, Arsenal have statistically the second-hardest opening set of fixtures for 2025/26, behind only Manchester United.

Arsenal run-in offers title hope

If Arsenal can navigate that tricky start and keep themselves in the title hunt by the time we reach late spring 2026, they might believe that this could be their year.

They must face Man City and Newcastle in back-to-back games in late April, but their final four matches look a lot kinder.

The Gunners host Fulham on May 2, travel to West Ham a week later, host promoted Burnley on May 17 and conclude the season away to Crystal Palace on May 24. They won all three of those same games against Fulham, West Ham and Palace last season, scoring 12 goals in total, and they have only been beaten once by Burnley in all competitions in the past 16 years.

Arsenal's last six Premier League games 2025/26

*The below dates are provisional

MORE: How to buy Arsenal tickets for 2025/26 season, including cheapest prices