The disappointment at Southampton will be etched in everyone’s head for the coming days. However, there’s always a new chance to improve the mood. The Gunners have an opportunity to give some cheer back to the fans with a trip to Sporting Lisbon. If Mikel Arteta’s men can beat the Portuguese side then they’ll set themselves up perfectly for the second leg. That second leg will be played just before we travel to Manchester City, so we could definitely do without trying to recover from a loss. Let’s see what Sporting Lisbon have to offer.

Form

Sporting Lisbon are currently second in the Liga Portugal. They trail FC Porto by five points and are only ahead of Benfica by two points. After Benfica there’s a major drop off as Sporting are almost 20 points clear of 4th. They do have a game in hand over Porto, but that still wouldn’t be enough to beat them to the title. They’ve scored 72 goals in the process, which is the most in the league. That’s 14 goals more than the 2nd highest. They’ve only conceded 17 goals which is the joint-second best in the division. They’ve lost just one league game all season, which isn’t even the best. Benfica haven’t lost any. The single defeat did come at home and that was against Porto, this obviously means they’ve haven’t lost a single game away from home. But, that defeat came all the way back in August, meaning they’ve gone seven months without a loss in the league. In all competitions, they’ve lost just six times all season. Sporting have won 33 games in all competitions.

The Champions League has been the competition that has given them the most problems, but they’ve all come away from home. In the previous round they lost 3-0 away to Bodo/Glimt, but won 5-0 at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, resulting in progression to the next round. Rui Borges hasn’t suffered defeat on home turf in this entire Champions League campaign, winning all of them. They’ve faced Kairat Almaty, Marseille, Club Brugge, Bodo/Glimt and PSG. So, this fixture presents a difficult challenge as they have beaten PSG. They’ve been let down by away form as they’ve lost to Bayern Munich and Napoli, drew with Juventus and beat Athletic Bilbao.

In terms of xG, Sporting top the domestic charts. They’ve created 57.3 xG, the next highest is 53 xG which is set by Benfica. In terms of xGA they have the second best record in the league with 18.6, the best falling to Porto with just 18 xGA. If we combine it all together then the Portuguese giants should be sitting on 61 points and top of the league.

Absences

Sporting will have a couple of noticeable absences. Morten Hjulmand has accumulated too many yellow cards, so will be suspended. Fotis Ioannidis, Nuno Santos and Geovany Quenda will all miss this leg through injury. Quenda being the future Chelsea player. Luis Guilherme is a doubt.

For Arsenal it will be Mikel Merino, Piero Hincapie, Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber that will definitely miss the tie. Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard will face late fitness tests, but should be okay.

Player to Watch: Luis Suarez

It has to be him. Viktor Gyokeres’ replacement and putting up similar numbers to him. Sporting have plenty of talented footballers, with Arsenal tracking a couple of them for their own project. However, Suarez has had an incredible season and you can’t ignore it. He’s notched 33 goals and 6 assists in 38 matches. He averages a goal contribution every game and that’s how it feels like with him. He’s been extremely clinical since arriving on the shores of Portugal and Arsenal will have to be wary of that. He has an average match rating of 7.97 in the Liga Portugal, which is the highest in the squad. It’s no surprise that he leads pretty much all of the attacking categories for Sporting Lisbon. In addition to that, he finds himself in the top three for chances created and big chances created. That is as far as his contribution to the team goes, but it’s been a meaningful contribution. The Colombian will clearly pose a problem for Gabriel and William Saliba, but they’re elite at what they do and they should keep him quiet.

Sporting Predicted Lineup

Sporting will be missing two key players for this trip with Hjulmand and Santos both unavailable. Sporting don’t have great depth in midfield, so I think they’ll go with Daniel Braganca who featured in place of Hjulmand in the last match he missed for the club. Outside of that, the team will likely be what we normally see. Suarez being the focal point, but with three clever players behind him. Geny Catamo will provide the pace, whereas Trincao and Pedro Goncalves will focus more on moving the ball quickly and trying to outplay Arsenal’s midfield/defence. They will provide a high energy press and attempt to break our rhythm as much as possible, but we did beat them 5-1 last season at this ground.

Arsenal Predicted Lineup

After the injury news, I’ve updated my team selection for the match. Noni Madueke to come in for Bukayo Saka and Cristian Mosquera to come in for Jurrien Timber. I don’t think Arteta will risk putting White through another fixture given Timber’s injury. Mosquera has proven he can do a job there. I think that maybe Myles Lewis-Skelly will be given another opportunity as we know that Riccardo Calafiori can’t handle two games a week. Besides, the Champions League is where Myles has played his best football. I don’t like the idea of Madueke, Martinelli and Gyokeres as a front three. However, with a more possession based midfield behind, it could work. Sporting should allow for more gaps, rather than a low block.

Predicted Result: Sporting 1-1 Arsenal

Despite us mauling them last season, I can’t see the same occurring here. I think some of frailties in this squad has been brought to the forefront in the last two outings. We showed a lack of discipline against Southampton and demonstrated a lack of control against Manchester City. I firmly believe that Arteta won’t allow a repeat of either of those performances, but it’s not always down to him. He needs his best on it and some of those are just coming back from injury. I think we’ll do just enough, but nothing that will give us a cushion for next week. Let’s get it!