🕟 Kick Off: 20:00 BST

🏟️ Venue: Estadio Jose Alvalade

📺 UK Broadcaster: Amazon Prime

🙎🏻‍♂️ Referee: Daniel Siebert 🇩🇪

📹 VAR: Bastian Dankert 🇩🇪

🔴 Arsenal Team News:

• Bukayo Saka: Major doubt. Saka was the most notable absentee from open training this morning. He is unlikely to feature tomorrow.
• Jurrien Timber: Major doubt. Did not train today following his absence from the Carabao Cup final and the FA Cup quarter final.
• Eberechi Eze: Major doubt. Sustained the injury against Leverkusen. Arteta said he cannot put a finger on a return date because Eze is a ‘special character’. Supposedly he was spotted on the team walk ahead of the FA Cup fixture but didn’t feature in the game.
• Piero Hincapié: Ruled out. Not spotted in training and the last update from Arteta was that he is unsure when he will return.
• Gabriel Magalhães: Available. Despite being forced off with a knee issue on Saturday, Gabriel was spotted in the open training session this morning.
• Declan Rice & Leandro Trossard: Available. Both missed the FA Cup exit but were spotted training this morning.
• Mikel Merino: Ruled out long-term (Post-surgery rehabilitation).

⚽ Arsenal Form: 🟥🟥🟩🟩🟧

🟢Sporting CP Team News:

• Nuno Santos (Hamstring): Ruled out. Currently undergoing rehabilitation.
• Fotis Ioannidis (Knee): Ruled out. The striker remains sidelined with a persistent knee issue and did not train with the main group today.
• Geovany Quenda (Broken Foot): Major doubt. While he has recently returned to light training, he is not yet match-fit and is unlikely to be risked in such a high-intensity fixture.
• Luis Guilherme (Strain): Major doubt. Will face a late fitness test tomorrow morning.

⚽ Sporting CP Form: 🟩🟩🟩🟥🟧

⚔️ Head-to-Head:

• Sporting 1–5 Arsenal (Nov 2025, UCL League Phase)
• Arsenal 1–1 (3-5 pen.) Sporting (Mar 2023, UEL Quarter Final)
• Sporting 2–2 Arsenal (Mar 2023, UEL Quarter Final)
• Arsenal 0–0 Sporting (Nov 2018, UEL Group Stage)
• Sporting 0–1 Arsenal (Oct 2018, UEL Group Stage)

📖 Match Facts:

• This game will be the first time Gyokeres returns to his old club following his move in the summer. He scored 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting.
• English sides have won all nine previous Champions League quarter finals against Portuguese opposition.
• Arsenal have never lost a competetive match against Sporting in 90 minutes. Their only loss came on penalties in 2023.

📸 Previously in this fixture…

Last time out against Sporting was the 1-5 battering in the League Stage of the 24/25 Champions League. Goals from Martinelli, Havertz, Gabriel, Saka, and Trossard helped us on our way to a 3rd place finish in the first ever league stage of the Champions League.

✍🏼 Pre-Match Ramblings

These posts are pretty hard to write even when the mood is high around the club; I don’t think I’ve ever felt as unmotivated to write anything about a game as I do now. Arsenal played twice in two weeks and are now out of both domestic cups, going from chasing a treble, to remaining in contention for the two big ones. It’s do or die now – if we are going to win this season, it has to be one of the big two.

We come into this tricky away fixture in the worst place we’ve been in for a while. The last time we lost consecutive games was last season where we lost at home to Bournmouth and then went out of the Champions League in Paris to PSG. There’s an eerie parallel there with Bournemouth visiting the Emirates at the weekend in a game that has suddenly become absolutely pivotal to our season. We were all celebrating the UCL draw when it happened, just as we were pretty happy to be facing Southampton in the FA Cup quarter final. It’s fair to say that at the moment we look very beatable, vulnerable, and nervous. Sporting will be very confident in getting something here to take to London next week.

Whilst we do have a sizeable injury list, we should see the likes of Rice, Trossard, Zubimendi, and Calafiori returning to their starting roles in Portugal. I would hope to see Odegaard getting a start in midfield next to Rice; Havertz has not been flourishing in midfield in his past two starts there, and I don’t think we are in a position to be patient at the moment. If Odegaard is fit, he starts. Gyokeres should start this game, he strikes me as a player who would relish the opportunity to go and score against his old club, especially given the circumstances around his exit.

Whilst a draw wouldn’t be a bad result, I think we need to go and put on an exciting and persuasive performance ahead of the return of the Premier League at the weekend.