🕗 Kick Off: 20:00 GMT

📍 Location: Emirates Stadium, Islington, North London

📺 UK Broadcaster: TNT Sports

🙎🏻‍♂️ Referee: Clement Turpin

🔴 Arsenal Team News:

• Gabriel Martinelli missed the Brentford game and it is reported he is aiming to return to the squad for the City game.
• Takehiro Tomiyasu has yet to return to the matchday squad since his injury after returning from the Asia Cup, but he edges closer to fitness. I expect him to miss this game and return after the international break.
• Jurrien Timber remains in recovery following his ACL injury.

⚽ Arsenal Form: 🟩🟩🟩🟥🟩

🔵 FC Porto Team News:

• Marcano is not yet ready to return after a cruciate ligament injury sustained earlier in the season.
• Sanusi will not play again after also sustaining a cruciate ligament injury.
• Taremi has been dealing with a thigh injury from the first leg but is expected to be fit for this match.

⚽ FC Porto Form: 🟩🟩🟩🟧🟩

📖 Match Facts:

• The last time Arsenal faced Porto in the Champions League, they lost the first leg by one goal and went on to win the home leg 5-0, with a hat-trick from Lord Bendtner.
• FC Porto have lost one game all year, with their last being a 3-2 loss away to Arouca in mid-February.
• Arsenal are unbeaten in the Premier League this calendar year, but have lost both knockout tournament games against Liverpool and Porto.

🎲 Odds (Betway):

• Arsenal – 2/9
• Draw – 5/1
• FC Porto – 12/1

✍🏼 Pre-Match Ramblings

Premier League leaders Arsenal will be hoping to recreate a magical evening in the Emirates from 15 years ago as they battered FC Porto after a disappointing loss in the away leg. They will be out for blood here to right the wrong that was conceding a wonder goal in the closing minutes of a frustrating game in Portugal.

The away leg saw the importance of experience in these types of games, I was going to use the word ‘maturity’, but the way the Porto players were rolling around on the floor after every touch of an Arsenal player, and at times, a touch from a Porto player (which the referee gave a Porto free kick for), was not mature at all – but it worked for them. They played for the occasion, and the occasion was against an inexperienced team in the competition, and a perfect referee for their playstyle. We could not deal with this. We committed 22 fouls in the game, the most in any Champions League game this season.

The key to progressing into the next round will be patience. Porto will try their same tricks again, and we need to see how the referee responds, and play to the calls being given. Our intense press and strong challenges for the ball played against us in the away leg, but we didn’t adapt to it. Brentford played the exact same way on Saturday and we managed to find an answer. I am confident we can do this again and progress into the next round. An early goal will be vital here to open up the game.

🔮 Prediction: Arsenal 2-0 FC Porto