• Premier League

Next seven games could define Arsenal's season

The next seven games will be an unforgiving test for Arsenal and will tell us a lot about their ambitions this season. On Saturday, reigning champions Manchester City come to the Emirates and Arsene Wenger really needs to get something from that game.

That is followed by a trip to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League where, again, a decent result can set them up in the group.

Arsene Wenger is facing an unforgiving run of fixtures © Getty Images

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Aston Villa away follows on from that before Southampton in the League Cup, Tottenham at home in the north London derby, Galatasaray in the Champions League and last but certainly not least a trip to Chelsea.

Such a hard run of games which will tell us a lot about the sort of season that Arsenal are going to have. A huge lift for Wenger will be the return of Theo Walcott, who is aiming to be fit for the end of the month.

His pace, power and quality will give the team a massive boost and he can also offer Wenger another attacking option. They have missed Walcott hugely because he gives them a great outlet and his pace frightens opposing defenders.

That is why the signing of Danny Welbeck is so good - he has pace and power which are the two vital ingredients for any forward player in the Premier League. Welbeck will surely get unleashed upon Manchester City on Saturday and his ability to run in behind and arch on to through balls will give them a major threat.

City will be a good acid test for Wenger, who will doubtlessly be concerned about his players coming back unscathed from the international break.

That is always the worry for every Premier League boss and with the week of football for the Euro 2016 qualifiers, at least there will be four clear days for the England players to recover before the visit of City. It was a big shame for Arsenal to drop points at Leicester because seven out of nine points is an impressive start - but five from nine is decent rather than anything else.

The big guns will lay down a frightening pace this season as Chelsea have proven with three wins out of three. No one will be able to afford to drop too far behind them even at this early stage.

But these early season tests - Arsenal potentially play three out of the top six with City, Chelsea and Spurs in the next month - will tell us a lot about where Wenger's team are.

I think that Chelsea and City will dominate the title race. Arsenal have bought well and their challenge is really to see whether they can leap from being a team chasing a top four place into serious title contenders.

Arsenal and Liverpool are on the fringes. But with the acquisitions of Alexis Sanchez, Welbeck, Calum Chambers and Mathieu Debuchy there is no reason why they can't move to the next level.

Not only will crunch games in the next few weeks tell us how they compare, they also need points on the board to keep up with the pacesetters. If Wenger wants a credible title challenge this season then a big month is required, starting with City on Saturday.

This article originally appeared on ESPN FC

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