Morning all.
I have to laugh at some of the headlines in the media. Only they were talking about Arsenal Football Club and a quadruple in the same sentence and now, those same buffoons are writing about have we’ve failed.
Not for one minute did I personally believe we’d win all four competitions, in fact at the beginning of the season, just one would have done for me, the Premier League. Had we been out of the race for the league as 2025 drifted in 2026, yes, I’d have been all for the focus turning to the FA Cup, especially as the route to a Champions League Final looks so tough. Don’t get me wrong, I hoped our name would be on the FA Cup again in May but it won’t be because Mikel Arteta and his players got things so very wrong on Sunday. Or right, depending on how one looks at it. What became evident quite quickly is that a few players who were given a rare opportunity to prove they deserve to be given more playing time, lacked fight. Quality too in the case of one or two.
Tonight the boys are in Portugal to face Sporting Lisbon. Domestically, they are in a good place, albeit five points behind league leaders Porto, although they do have a game in hand. Sporting have been good in the Champions League too, going straight through to the knockouts having finished 7th in the league, their best result coming at home when Luis Suarez scored twice to beat PSG 2-1. Their worst result was a 3-1 defeat away against Bayern Munich. Suarez already has 33 goals to his name this season.
Sporting looked likely to exit the competition in the first knockout fixture after losing 3-0 away to Bodo/Glimt but a 5-0 victory at home after 120 minutes of football, saw them progress.
Sporting haven’t lost a home fixture in this competition so far during this campaign and Arsenal FC have never beaten a Portuguese club on the road. Only three times out of eight have we progressed past this stage of the competition. We might as well give up now… lol
Arsenal’s Adrian Clarke on tonight’s opposition:
On home turf, Sporting are a dangerous proposition. Scoring 16 goals across five victories in front of their own supporters in the Champions League this term – and never netting less than twice – the hosts are sure to come at us.
Borges usually sets his team up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Much of their success in 2025/26 has been built around the energy and creativity of attacking midfielder Trincao [above],and he is a player who hits plenty of shots from distance, while the varied finishing of speedy centre forward Suarez has also been impressive. The Colombian has been outstanding this term, and his tireless work rate will test our centre-back pairing.
As for other eye-catchers, left-back Maxi Araujo loves to fly forward to create chances and is an exciting dribbler, while on the right wing, Mozambique international Geny Catamo is another good ball carrier who enjoys sliding through balls into the path of striker Suarez.
The Portuguese side can look after possession very well, but in this competition, they have had plenty of success on the counter. When beating PSG 2-1 at home, Sporting had just a 25.4% share of the ball. In the Allianz Arena, against Bayern Munich, they also caused several scares, but with 38.4% of possession they were happy to look for breakaways.
I imagine a lot of the focus tonight will be on Viktor Gyokeres as he makes his first return to the club which sold him to Arsenal last summer. Mud was slung from both sides of the Sporting/player camp before the Swede finally got his move away from the club so I’m sure our striker will face a bit of a hostile reception, his 68 goals in 66 league appearances all but forgotten. I’m pretty sure Gyokeres will take it all in his stride, after all, he’s made of stern stuff.
Arsenal came up against Sporting in the league phase of this competition last season when we battered them 5-1 on their own turf but much has changed since then, certainly for opponents. A different manager for a start. A number of different players too.
Mikel Arteta spoke to the media last night when he was asked about the availability of Gabriel, Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard and the good news is, all three are fit. Sadly, Jurrien Timber, Bukayo Saka and Ebe Eze are not.
About tonight’s game, he said:
This is the quarter-finals of the Champions League, it doesn’t get much better than that, and we worked so hard throughout the season to be in this position in the competition. We’re going to play an opponent here that we know about, their record and what they’ve done. So we are hungrier than ever, very excited and very, very motivated.
You have to live the present, you have to deliver it every day. You cannot pick the games, you cannot pick the moments or the actions. It’s every action, every game, every moment. That’s the standard that we set and that’s part of identity and it’s part of this football club.
Is that a reference to our last two performances I wonder, because quite frankly, both were shocking. Walk out onto the pitch tonight with the kind of lazy attitude which we appeared to have against Southampton and we’ll get battered. However, with a few of the big guns returning, we should see a totally different approach.
Regardless of what you and I think about this competition, Arsenal need a big performance. A confidence building performance to kick start a strong end to the season.
Catch up in the comments.
Hopefully Gyokeres will score tonight. I don’t think the SP fans will be clapping him when he goes onto the pitch!
The same old press we have known years in and years out. Thoroughly enjoy the doom and gloom when a team starts losing.
Tomorrow they will be praising Arsenal as we come home with a win and the advantage of playing the second round at home. And no doubt we will have top listen to their c – – p commentary on how Arsenal have turned the corner, got their act together, etc, etc.
Enjoy the match tonight.
COYG!
Riddles Laura, they talk in riddles..
Morning to you and all.
financially this tie is important but like many others I cant help the feeling that even should we progress the next step will be a bridge too far But semi money is better than quarter .
We know that with a full team playing at optimum we are a match for anyone but that’s not where we are at the moment and for whatever reason we are about 65% at present and that may not be good enough.
Getting beat by City is one thing but the Southampton game was another . Despite our managers protestations it seems that the players have little faith in their abilities when we have three or more players out . Perhaps Arteta feels the same and this is why certain players have been played to exhaustion .Obviously injuries havent helped but they have to be expected . Maybe the squad is not as good as we thought it was .
My thoughts too on the squad which begs the question, why did we make the signings in the first place? £50 million for Noni looks an absolute waste of money. Signing Norgaard seems a mistake too.
Afternoon Rico and all, just catching up as I am in the middle of moving, let’s just hope the loss to Southampton was just a slip up, as the FA Cup is one of my favorite cups to watch. Sometimes you just have to question Arteta’s starting line up
Hi Geoff, I was thinking yesterday that you’ve not been around. I feel for you moving, it’s stressful. Lol
What to say about Madueke ? A totally loose cannon with little or no end product , Nwaneri would have saved the money
N orgaard is a good steady experienced player and probably has his eyes on getting outcas soon as possible due to his lackbof playing time and recently hasnt been busting a gut and just going through the motions.
Jesus should have gone before his injury
Kepa is a weak link.and the injury shuffle in the back line needs some attention
other than that everything is fine and dandy.
Whoever Arteta chooses to put on the pitch tonight must show urgency and energy, too much farting about at the back just drains the life out of the game. Get out there, get on with it, win the ball and win the game.
Had Norgaard played more pre Christmas, I think he would have been an asset but clearly Arteta didn’t fancy him. A result of which Rice and Zubimendi have looked knackered at times.
Spot on re Madueke and Nwaneri. Jesus too and unless Havertz improves with fitness, I wouldn’t be fussed to see him go either.
You are asking a lot Cicero…
….bit surely that should be the aim of a highly paid professional Rico.
Absolutely Cicero, however…
Sporting will have great belief after overcoming a 3-0 loss in the first leg of the previous round,to win the second leg 5-0 was amazing. They know they pretty much have to win tonight,a draw for Arsenal would be a good result in my view. Arsenal would be strong favourites to make the Semi. Even if the idiots in the media would try and make it out to be a disaster. That’s disrespectful to Sporting.
Mind you I still think Arsenal will win,I thought that about the Southampton game though. Just goes to show attitude is all important.
COYG