🕟 Kick Off: 20:00 BST

🏟️ Venue: Emirates Stadium

📺 UK Broadcaster: TNT Sports

🙎🏻‍♂️ Referee: François Letexier 🇫🇷

📹 VAR: Bastian Dankert 🇩🇪

🔴 Arsenal Team News:

• Rice: Absent from training today. Arteta says ‘he has played a lot of minutes and that is part of the issue’ – I will hold my tongue here.
• Saka: Arteta confirmed an achilles issue. No update on his condition aside from that.
• Calafiori, Timber, Odegaard, Hincapie: No update given by Arteta. Status of all of listed unknown.
• Mikel Merino: Ruled out long-term (Post-surgery rehabilitation).

⚽ Arsenal Form: 🟥🟩🟥🟥🟩

🟢 Sporting CP Team News:

• Iván Fresneda (Knock): Major Doubt. Substituted at half-time during Saturday’s domestic win due to a “complaint about a knock.” He is traveling with the squad but will face a late fitness test tomorrow.
• Fotis Ioannidis (Knee): Ruled Out. The striker has remained in Lisbon to continue his rehabilitation and did not travel with the squad.
• Nuno Santos (Thigh/Hamstring): Ruled Out. Still in the recovery phase.
• Luis Guilherme (Foot/Strain): Ruled Out. He did not participate in the final training session in Lisbon and has not traveled.

⚽ Sporting CP Form: 🟩🟥🟩🟩🟩

⚔️ Head-to-Head:

• Sporting 0–1 Arsenal (April 7, 2026, UCL Quarter-final 1st Leg)
• 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)

📖 Match Facts:

• A win would see Arsenal through to their second consecutive Semi-Finals in the competition for the first time in their history.
• Arsenal are looking to avoid consecutive home defeats for the first time this season, following Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Bournemouth.
• If both Saka and Ødegaard are out, Max Dowman (16) could become the youngest player to ever start a Champions League quarter-final match.

📸 Previously in this fixture…

Last week saw Arsenal beat Sporting in the first leg in Portugal with a late goal from Havertz. An excellent turn, run, and ball by Martinelli (something we don’t see from him in the league), played perfectly into Kai saw him slot it home to take the win.

✍🏼 Pre-Match Ramblings

After a demoralising, deflating, and potentially catastrophic loss at home against Bournemouth at the weekend, Arsenal return to action in the second leg of the Quarter Final of the UCL against Sporting. After a late goal from Havertz in the first leg last week Arsenal are in a very strong position going into the home leg. A win would see Arsenal through to the Semi Final for a second consecutive year, something we have never done.

We find our squad ravaged by injuries to hugely important players, and the absence of Rice from training today only fuels the anxiety levels in the fanbase. We are likely to see yet another starting lineup without the likes of Timber, Saka, Odegaard, and Calafiori. The return of Eze was a huge boost but his second half appearance against Bournemouth didn’t result in any fruits despite a promising performance in the middle of the pitch.

Sporting were on a lengthy unbeaten home run before we went there, but followed up with a win in the league at the weekend, which we weren’t able to do. Arsenal are in a very touch and go moment, and Sporting will look to capitalise in the same way Bournemouth did.

Arteta faces some interesting decisions with the lineup tomorrow. On paper the best front three we have is the one that started against Bournemouth, but this does not work and will not magically start working. Surrounding Gyokeres with runners is not how you get the best out of him. However, Martinelli seems to only turn up on European nights recently, so I expect him to start. Madueke was very poor against Bournemouth. Constantly running the ball either out of play or out of possession, and not tracking back. Max Dowman could start tomorrow and I don’t think anyone would complain, except maybe Madueke.

Norgaard could see a start in midfield if the Rice issue is serious, and I expect Eze to start at #10 given he did the presser with Arteta. That only leaves the fullbacks. Myles had a good game against Bournemouth, perhaps his best at LB all season (although that bar isn’t exactly high). Do you start MLS here, keeping Hincapie rested for City? I can’t call it. On the right side, you have White who struggled against Bournemouth, or Mosquera who isn’t really a RB. Having said that, neither was Ben White when he joined. Some very tough choices especially with the City game looming.