by Sir Hardly Anyone
- Arsenal in the Champions League. How are our rivals doing at the moment?
- Maybe at last the media is waking up to the notion of child abuse in football
FC Porto are the most successful club in Portugal in terms of points accrued over time.
| # | Club | Matches | W | D | L | GD | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FC Porto | 1.171 | 850 | 197 | 124 | 1.667 | 2.741 |
| 2 | SL Benfica | 1.171 | 778 | 231 | 162 | 1.494 | 2.565 |
| 3 | Sporting CP | 1.168 | 716 | 251 | 201 | 1.150 | 2.399 |
With the exception of Belenenses in 1945–46 and Boavista in 2000–01, only three clubs have won the Primeira Liga title – Benfica (38 times), Porto (30) and Sporting CP (19). These three clubs generally end up sharing the top three positions (thus, appearing more frequently in UEFA competitions) and are the only clubs to have played in every season of the competition.
Porto are currently third in the Portuguese league
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Benfica | 22 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 52 | 15 | 37 | 55 |
| 2 | Sporting Lisbon | 21 | 18 | 1 | 2 | 60 | 19 | 41 | 55 |
| 3 | FC Porto | 22 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 37 | 16 | 21 | 48 |
| 4 | Sporting Braga | 22 | 13 | 4 | 5 | 46 | 33 | 13 | 43 |
Porto in Champions League
Champions League matches are being played on a variety of dates and so far. Here are the games so far…
13 February
Copenhagen 1-3 Manchester City
Leipzig 0-1 Real Madrid
14 February
Paris St Germain 2-0 Real Sociedad
Lazio 1-0 Bayern
Porto have played three games in February, all in the Primeira Liga starting with a goalless draw against Rio Ave, followed by a 3-2 away defeat to Arouca and then finally a 2-0 home win against Estrela da Amadora. So not the best of form going into the game against Arsenal.
This compares with Arsenal’s three victories which of course you will know all about, resulting in 14 goals for and one against, in the matches against Liverpool, West Ham United and Burnley.
However, in case all of this makes it seem as if FC Porto is going to be a walkover over it is worth remembering just what the results have been like against them in the past…
Arsenal have played the club six times, all between 2006 and 2010, and all in the Champions League. And we have actually only won half of these games, drawing one and losing two.
| Date | Match | Result | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Sep 2006 | Arsenal v FC Porto | W | 2-0 |
| 06 Dec 2006 | FC Porto v Arsenal | D | 0-0 |
| 30 Sep 2008 | Arsenal v FC Porto | W | 4-0 |
| 10 Dec 2008 | FC Porto v Arsenal | L | 2-0 |
| 17 Feb 2010 | FC Porto v Arsenal | L | 2-1 |
| 09 Mar 2010 | Arsenal v FC Porto | W | 5-0 |
Porto recent results
In February Porto have played three games, drawing 0-0 with Rio Ave, losing away to Arouca 2-3 and then beating Estrela da Amadora 2-0 at home.
And we actually have a highlights video of the game, with Porto in the blue and white stripes. The video includes just about the most relaxed penalty that you are ever likely to see.
You’ll also notice that Porto went 3-1 down in this game and went down to 10 players.
Porto’s best win of the season was on 20 January when they beat Moreirense 5-0.
So let’s do a comparison between Arsenal and Porto – and because the clubs have played a different number of games we’ve included a points per game (PPG) total at the end.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | 25 | 17 | 4 | 4 | 58 | 22 | 36 | 55 | 2.20 |
| FC Porto | 22 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 37 | 16 | 21 | 48 | 2.18 |
Arsenal are this season scoring 2.32 goals a game and conceding 0.88 goals a game. In contrast FC Porto are scoring 1.68 goals a game and conceding 0.68 goals a game. So although they have a good defence in terms of the league in which they are playing, their attacking quality within that league is clearly not of the strength of Arsenal’s.
Being at home with a very partisan crowd they might knock in a goal, but we can expect perhaps three from Arsenal, given the average of 2.32 Arsenal goals this season.
Arsenal’s average score in the last five games however is 4.2 goals for and 0.4 goals against and it could be that this game could continue that form.
More anon.
