Ninety minutes away from a new page of club history, Arsenal pit their wits against Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday evening, in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final encounter.
The Gunners came away from the Estadio Jose Alvalade with a potentially priceless 1-0 win from last Tuesday's first leg, as Kai Havertz came off the bench to bag a late winner for Mikel Arteta's men, who could reach back-to-back Champions League semi-finals for the first time ever.
Arsenal fans may now be licking their lips at the prospect of a last-four clash with Atletico Madrid, who are firm favourites to get the job done against Barcelona on Tuesday night, but a familiar sense of trepidation has now begun to creep in for the Gunners again.
Indeed, the Premier League leaders have lost their last three domestic matches in all competitions following Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth, while Sporting at least managed to edge out Estrela Amadora 1-0 in the Primeira Liga.
Ahead of Tuesday's second leg, Sports Mole takes a closer look at the head-to-head record and previous meetings between Arsenal and Sporting.
Head-to-head record
Previous meetings: 8
Sporting Lisbon wins: 1
Draws: 3
Arsenal wins: 4
Arsenal and Sporting Lisbon have previously clashed eight times in European competition, but only twice in the Champions League; they have crossed paths four times in the Europa League and twice in the now-defunct Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
Under half of their previous seven showdowns have ended level at full time, while Arsenal have come up trumps on four occasions themselves, and the Portuguese giants only have one victory to their name against the three-time Premier League winners.
However, that success arrived in their most recent Emirates showdown in the 2022-23 Europa League last 16, where Mikel Arteta and Ruben Amorim's teams shook hands on a pulsating 2-2 first-leg draw before reuniting in North London one week later.
With media personality Kim Kardashian watching on from the Emirates stands, Arsenal went ahead through Granit Xhaka, only to be pegged back by a 46-yard Pedro Goncalves spectacular before being knocked out by Amorim's men on penalties.
Prior to that crushing continental disappointment, though, Arsenal had kept clean sheets in each of their first four matches with Sporting, whom they also met in the group stage of the 2018-19 Europa League with Unai Emery at the helm.
That year, a 1-0 away win courtesy of a Danny Welbeck effort preceded a 0-0 draw at the Emirates, and the Gunners also proved too hot for Sporting to handle during the 1969-70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, winning their second-round tie 3-0 on aggregate before going on to lift the trophy.
Future manager George Graham netted two of Arsenal's goals in their 3-0 second-leg success at Highbury, making him the top scorer in this fixture, which has never been won in 90 minutes by the Portuguese side.
The first-ever meeting between the two clubs in the Champions League was barely a contest in truth, as the Gunners ruthlessly dispatched Sporting 5-1 at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, equalling their biggest-ever away win in the competition.
The scoreline was much closer in the most recent meeting between the two sides in April 2026, which saw Kai Havertz score a late winner in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie between the two sides.
Previous meetings
Apr 07, 2026: Sporting Lisbon 0-1 Arsenal (Champions League League Quarter-finals)
Nov 26, 2024: Sporting Lisbon 1-5 Arsenal (Champions League League Phase)
Mar 16, 2023: Arsenal 1-1 Sporting Lisbon(p) (Europa League Round of 16)
Mar 09, 2023: Sporting Lisbon 2-2 Arsenal (Europa League Round of 16)
Nov 08, 2018: Arsenal 0-0 Sporting Lisbon (Europa League Group Stage)
Oct 25, 2018: Sporting Lisbon 0-1 Arsenal (Europa League Group Stage)
Nov 26, 1969: Arsenal 3-0 Sporting (Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Second Round Second Leg)
Oct 29, 1969: Sporting 0-0 Arsenal (Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Second Round First Leg)