The disappointment from the Bournemouth game will be felt until the very end of the season. If we end up losing the league to Manchester City then that will likely be the game that’s singled out. 12 point gap on the line and you churn out a performance you’d expect to see in pre-season. Now, the players and the fans have to move on from it as there’s still a chance. Our next two fixtures could define our entire campaign. Lose both and we likely end our season without any silverware. First up on the schedule is Sporting Lisbon. As I made a post last week on Sporting, I’m just going to give a top line update on their form, any new injuries/returning players and a new player to watch.

Form

Sporting still sit 2nd in the Liga Portugal. They’re still five points behind FC Porto as both sides won their league fixtures over the weekend. Sporting beat Estrela Da Amadora 1-0 away from home. Benfica also won their game over the weekend, so they remain just two points behind Sporting. There isn’t much more to add, please check out last week’s post if you want a deep dive.

Absences

Sporting have one key player back for this tie after serving his suspension in the first leg. Morten Hjulmand, Sporting’s captain. The only missing players for the Portuguese side now are Nuno Santos, Fotis Ioannidis and Luis Guilherme.

Player to Watch: Trincao

I covered Luis Suarez last week and he did well, but not really the danger that I thought he’d be. This week I’m going for someone that really could provide some danger, based on what I saw in Portugal. Trincao spent some time in the Premier League a few seasons ago, when Wolves were going through their Portuguese phase. He’s a tricky player to handle and he exposed Arsenal a few times last week. Trincao’s had a superb season with Sporting, grabbing 27 goals/assists in 45 games. In the Champions League he’s notched 7 G/A in just 10 matches. His average match rating across all competitions is 7.65 which is incredible. He assisted the only goal in Sporting’s 1-0 win over the weekend. He continues to impress when we dig deeper into his statistics compared to his team mates. In the league he’s assisted the most goals, third highest in goals + assists combined, second highest match rating and has consumed the most minutes. Digging even deeper, he’s top three in all of these categories; expected goals, expected goals on target, big chances created, chances created, expected assists, expected assists per 90 and penalties earned. If Sporting are going to create anything, it’ll come through Trincao.

Sporting Predicted Lineup

Sporting were close to earning at least a draw against us last time out, so they’ll find no reason to change their lineup. The only difference will be Hjulmand slotting back into the midfield. He’s the captain and will allow the away side to control possession a little better. Arsenal generally controlled possession better last week, but they didn’t come up against Hjulmand. The Danish international is an Arsenal fan, so much so that he has a tattoo of the club on his body. However, for over 90 minutes he’ll put the admiration to one side. They’ll look to counter quickly again, so Arsenal will have to watch the transition.

Arsenal Predicted Lineup

Given that we’re still yet to see Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber, Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori back in training, my team remains unchanged from yesterday’s prediction. My only concern is whether Declan Rice will be fit, he wasn’t spotted in training and Mikel Arteta was rather sheepish on his injury update. If he isn’t fit then I’d put Christian Norgaard in for him in that ‘6’ role. Again, this is the best side we can field based on injuries and form. The only difference is Gabriel Jesus in for Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard. He’s the last option for that role, but it will likely leave Piero Hincapie a little exposed due to Jesus’ inability to consistently track back as much as Trossard and Martinelli.

Predicted Result: Arsenal 2-0 Sporting

I’m a little scared to predict Arsenal winning 2-0 again, as I predicted the same result against Bournemouth. We need to blitz Sporting early. They’ll be expecting us to start at a mediocre pace with plenty of passing and slow movements. Hit them with quick passing and moving and watch them shrink into themselves. They might recover and give a little back, but we should be a couple of goals up by then. If we can get a first half goal without reply then we can look to see out the game from there. Rui Borges will bring everything with him to try and win this game, so it will not be easy at all. We have the advantage, but it’s so slender. If they score first then it’ll open the tie right up and I wouldn’t be surprised to see us capitulate. However, we have to believe in the players and they need us now more than ever. Let’s get it!