Last-minute winners always hit differently, so it was little surprise Mikel Arteta cut a satisfied figure after Arsenal’s 1-0 win away at Sporting Lisbon.
It has not been the easiest of fortnights. A Carabao Cup final defeat, followed by an FA Cup exit, had the mood shifting and the noise growing. This felt like a response. Kai Havertz provided it in the closing seconds, finishing neatly after fellow substitute Gabriel Martinelli spotted his run and slid the ball through at just the right moment.
A goalless draw in a Champions League quarter-final first leg would have been perfectly serviceable. Instead, Arsenal leave Lisbon with a win, and with it a sense that the season has not drifted but steadied. There is still work to do, but this was a step in the right direction before attention turns back to the Premier League this weekend.
The performance was not flawless. There were spells where the final ball lacked precision and moments where the game threatened to slip away. But there was also resilience, organisation and just enough quality at the key moment. For a team that has had to reset itself more than once this season, that counts for a lot.
“I’m extremely happy, obviously. It was a big night, a big moment in the season. Especially where we’re coming from. I think we had a point to prove,” [said Arteta.](https://www.arsenal.com/news/every-word-artetas-post-sporting-presser-0)
“Yesterday I talked about identity and the things that I wanted to see on that pitch. It certainly happened. Certainly there was a shift there.”
Sporting arrived on the back of a 17-game winning run at home, their ground as awkward as any in Europe right now. Arsenal have form for this kind of occasion, though. As they did in 2024 when they ended a similar streak, they stood up to the atmosphere at Estadio Jose Alvalade and found a way through.
It was not pretty. At times, it was about survival as much as control, and they needed David Raya at his best to keep things level. The goalkeeper produced a series of sharp stops when Sporting broke into space, reminders that fine margins still define nights like this. Arsenal rode those moments and then took their chance at the other end.
“It’s very tricky, very difficult to play,” reflected Arteta. “That’s the reason why they won 17 games in a row here. They haven’t lost for a long, long time and really had to earn it.
“We had moments of real dominance with a lot of situations in and around the box without creating enough threat sometimes. Lacking to be a bit crispier, the movement a bit sharper, the final ball. But we took the game where we wanted. But after saying that, we knew as well that it’s a team extremely dangerous when they have space to run and they have two situations where David had to intervene in a brilliant way.
“And then, again, the story of the season, the finishers coming on when the most important part of the game is about to happen and then make the difference for us to go and win it.”
That has become something of a theme. No side in the Champions League has had substitutes combine for more goals this season, and across all competitions, Arsenal’s bench has delivered consistently, with 38 goal involvements. It speaks to the depth of the squad, but also to the buy-in from players asked to wait their turn.
“I think that’s a reflection of the chemistry that there is in the team and respecting your role within the day. And my decision that it’s not easy a lot of times to leave certain players on the bench to start with. But that organic is unnatural.
“They love each other so much that they do it for the team. And when you play with that attitude and that desire, these things can happen. And it’s been, again, a pivotal thing to raise the position that we are in. And we talk about identity.
“That was one of the main things that I discussed as well because we’re going to need them in the crucial moments to win it for us.”
For Arteta, the last couple of weeks have also offered a chance to take stock. Not just of results, but of the people around him and how they respond when things are not going to plan.
“That when you have a difficult period, the best thing that you can do instead of talk a lot is observe. Look around you and see how people react. How they talk, how they look at you, how they judge you, what they do, do they look at themselves, do they start to criticise other people. Look around and you’re going to learn the environment and the people that you have around you.
“I cannot be prouder to work in a club with people that the only thing they could do is ask, what else can I do to help? And when you have people like this, I don’t know if it’s going to take another week or two, but something good will happen at the end because we deserve it.”
It might not have been a statement performance, but it was a statement result. Sometimes that is enough.