Arsenal will kick off their 2013/14 Premier League season at home to Aston Villa on August 17, before heading to Fulham a week later and then hosting the first north London derby of the season on August 31.

Santi Cazorla’s double either side of half-time helped the Gunners to a 2-1 victory over Villa in the reverse fixture last season, and Arsene Wenger’s side will be hoping for a repeat of the 5-2 derby win over Tottenham when the two meet again in a little over two months’ time.

Per Mertesacker levelled the score against Spurs in November last year, after former Gunner Emmanuel Adebayor had opened the scoring and seen red in a 10 minute spell.

Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud, Cazorla and Theo Walcott completed the scoring on a good day for the red half of north London.

Further key fixtures include a home match against Liverpool on November 2, before travelling to champions Manchester United a week later, and then lining up against Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City (away) and Chelsea (at home) in the run up to Christmas.

West Ham will be the Boxing Day opposition, while Premier League new boys Cardiff City visit the Emirates on New Year’s Day.

Arsenal’s last league encounter with Cardiff was in a 1-1 draw in March 1962, but the pair last met in February 2009, with the Gunners winning their FA Cup replay 4-0 thanks to two from Eduardo and one apiece from Nicklas Bendtner and Robin van Persie.

The Gunners then face a tricky double-header in February, beginning with a trip to Anfield on Saturday 8 and host David Moyes’ United side three days later.

And March throws up a similarly busy schedule culminating with trips to White Hart Lane and Stamford Bridge, before welcoming Manchester City to north London.

Arsenal end their campaign with the visit of West Brom on Saturday May 3, before their final game of the season at Norwich City’s Carrow Road on Sunday May 11.