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Parlour - How we examined fixture list

Ray Parlour says Manchester United was always the key game that he looked out for when the fixture list was released each season.

Arsenal will find out their schedule for 2016/17 on Wednesday morning ahead of a campaign that many are predicting to be the most competitive ever.

  • Visit Arsenal.com, @Arsenal on Twitter or Arsenal Facebook from 9am (UK time) on Wednesday for all the fixtures for the 2016/17 season

Parlour says it was always an exciting time to examine the new fixture list, and pinpoint the key clashes for the season ahead.

“It was Manchester United always, that was our big game,” he told Arsenal Player. “Looking back at 1998, that was a top side then and if you look at their midfield, they had David Beckham on the right, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs - they had a wonderful midfield.

“They were always the games we had to win, or maybe get four points from - win at home, draw away from home and you had every chance of winning the league.

“Obviously the White Hart Lane derby is always important from the fans’ point of view. These days it is a lot tougher because Spurs have improved a lot, but I think the players will look at all the games now because it is so tight.

“But when I played, Manchester United was the team that we thought that if we could get one over on them [it would be vital]. When we played them home and away was important as well, say if we were playing them in March we knew we would have to win that game to maybe secure the title.”

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