Sporting were shaken late in the day as Kai Havertz handed Arsenal a 1-0 win in Lisbon.The Gunners had suffered successive defeats for the first time this season before they travelled to Portugal, and their performance bore scars of a side who are not in their groove. But goalkeeping heroics and defensive discipline did enough to make the match a stodgy affair before their flexible forward made the difference, putting Arsenal in the driving seat ahead of the clash in North London.
Story of the Match
Mikel Arteta picked the expected eleven for Arsenal in light of their injury list. Ben White was the replacement for Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori filled in for Piero Hincapie, while Gabriel Magalhaes was passably fit. Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice returned to the middle of the park to play with Martin Odegaard, and Noni Madueke stepped in for Bukayo Saka as a right winger.
Rui Borges changed only one member of the lineup he used in the second leg against Bodo. Maxi Araujo, Ousmane Diomande, Goncalo Inacio and Ivan Fresneda filled in at the back. An enforced alteration in midfield meant suspended captain Morten Hjulmand had to give way to Joao Simoes. Geny Catamo, Francisco Trincao and Pedro Goncalves got the three slots behind Luis Suarez.
Sporting are a side with a 100% winning record at home in Europe, and they immediately set about sustaining that form. After five minutes of the match, Ousmane Diomande drove the ball behind the Arsenal backline with a wonderful outside-of-the-right foot pass as Maxi Araujo got the better of White. The left back hammered a strike, and David Raya repelled him, tipping the ball onto the bar.
Geny Catamo was the next player to call the Spain shot stopper into action, and again Raya responded sharply. The number one goalkeeper had been watching from the sidelines in his side’s last two fixtures, but his return to the field was timely: the Gunners had conceded four shots during the first ten minutes of this contest— a tally unmatched so far in all competitions this campaign.
As Arsenal tried to settle into the clash, they leaned on their familiar gamebreaker of set-pieces to shake up their hosts. Madueke made the first inroads as he gained a free kick in a promising position, then Diomande blocked off Gyokeres to give away a corner. The right winger whipped a dangerous delivery into the box, catching the woodwork, and Odegaard lashed the loose ball wide of the mark.
Beyond this phase of the first quarter of an hour, the rest of the action before the break was tame— especially on the part of Arteta’s men. Sporting showed in phases that they had gears to go through in open play, and another well-placed long ball from Inacio allowed Araujo, a constant outlet, to break free once more. He tried to connect with Suarez, but a mishit cutback let Raya scoop up the ball.
The Gunners had to wait until the 43rd minute to register their first shot on target: a weak footed shot from Odegaard was simple enough to collect for Rui Silva. There was not much else to take note of.
The second half started with similar themes to the first. Araujo again outdid White on the outside, getting down the line to earn a corner. Moments later, Catamo cut through on the inside to profit from another straight ball, but the winger could not sort out his feet to punish the Gunners more decisively.
Meanwhile, the guests generated threat only in moments. Trossard cleverly controlled a switch from Odegaard to drift far into the centre from the flank, but his effort left much to be desired. Madueke then made his mark with another 1 v 1 to earn a right sided free kick: the sequence repeated with Odegaard provoking a response out of Rui Silva and the shot stopper was content to concede a corner.
Successive set-pieces kept the hosts on their toes, but they cleared the danger, and Raya reacted sharply to ensure Catamo did not break away on the counter. Catamo then sparked Sporting into life with a nifty nutmeg on Calafiori, and a flowing sequence ended with a miss chance for Trincao.
At the hour mark, Borges brought on Daniel Braganca for Simoes. Sporting would have sought to capitalise on their home advantage, but it briefly appeared that they had been put on the backfoot.
Gabriel cut the lines with a pass into the feet of Gyokeres, and the striker set the ball to the edge of the box. Zubimendi stepped onto the ball, brilliantly bending a strike into the side of the net. However, the Sweden international had been standing in an offside position, so VAR chalked off the goal.
By the final fifteen minutes of the match, Arteta had used two substitution slots to alter his attack. Kai Havertz had taken the place of Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli replaced Trossard on the left wing, and Max Dowman swapped in for Madueke— despite the winger’s persistent efforts on the right flank.
Calafiori kept galloping forward from the inside left channel, and Martinelli precisely put him through inside the penalty area while Gyokeres lurked at the far post. Again, the very final ball was inaccurate.
Then, it was Sporting’s turn to come close to breaking the deadlock. Suarez shifted the ball into the danger zone and Catamo clipped the ball with his head on the adjustment, forcing another save out of Raya. The winger had fired just wide of the target before that attack, and at the next opportunity, he stung the palms of the Spanish shot stopper, who had to scramble to stop Suarez snaffling a rebound.
It looked like the game would conclude logically in a stalemate, but there was one massive flashpoint still to come. Martinelli moved inside on the dribble, and as Inacio locked onto Gyokeres, Havertz hung off the back of the midfield, and he was free to pluck down a chipped through ball from his teammate. Silva tried to put him off, but the German coolly slotted a strike into the back of the net.
At the midway mark of the tie, Arsenal are now in a position of superiority. Meanwhile, Sporting, who have made history to get to this stage of the tournament, have it all to do next Wednesday.