After a tough couple of weeks, which have seen Arsenal lose the Carabao Cup Final and then get knocked out of the FA Cup by Southampton, the Gunners' attention turns back to Europe for the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final in Lisbon against Sporting CP.
The need for a much-improved performance
Indeed, Arsenal’s last two performances have had major issues for completely different reasons.
In the Carabao Cup Final against Manchester City, the biggest issue came in the build-up. Often, Arsenal would play long balls over the top, which allowed City to regain possession easily.
Pep Guardiola sensed this and implored a stand-off when it came to pressing because he knew Arsenal did not have the technical ability to play through the press.
Southampton saw an improvement on the build-up side of things, but there were a lot more defensive errors involved; the majority of the backline were having mishaps, but both the Saints' goals highlighted the issues.
For Ross Stewart’s opener, Ben White missed a header, which allowed the ball to drop to the striker, who calmly fired past Kepa.
Shea Charles’ winner was even more disastrous. From a Southampton goal-kick, Arsenal were unable to deal with the bounce of the ball, and the back four were all over the place.
Eventually, it fell inside the box for the former Manchester City academy graduate to place into the bottom corner.
Sporting are on a run of 16 consecutive home wins, and recently overturned a 3-0 deficit against Bodo/Glimt to make the last eight of the Champions League.
Arsenal will have to be at their very best tonight to secure a result.
Team choices
Mikel Arteta confirmed that Bukayo Saka or Jurrien Timber had travelled to Lisbon for the first leg, meaning that Noni Madueke and Ben White or Cristian Mosquera should be in the lineup for Tuesday night’s fixture.
David Raya is also expected to return in between the sticks following Kepa’s appearances in the last two cup matches.
There is also a big boost as both Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard have travelled to Portugal, meaning they should also be involved in some capacity.
If Rice is fit, then it will be expected that he replaces Kai Havertz in the line-up, while Martin Zubimendi should also come into the lineup ahead of Christian Norgaard.
Martin Odegaard will probably play a more advanced number 10 role, as Eberechi Eze is still unavailable. Rumours suggest Eze could return for the Premier League match against Bournemouth.