Sporting v Arsenal: not utterly confident but still hopeful

That’s true of course… but without a bit of background it is just another random statistic, a bit like saying that half of the population of England is above the average weight.

So it can sound dramatic when we read that, “Mikel Arteta has challenged his Arsenal team to fix their patchy European away form against a vibrant Sporting on Tuesday night, admitting they need to improve a record of just one win in their past eight continental trips.”   But really, what does that actually say – beyond being an answer to an inept journalist’s inept question?

Of course, Arsenal need to improve in the Champions League, but the problems that have afflicted Arsenal in the Premier League, most notably multiple injuries to utterly key players, have affected the Champions League games as well.

The portrayal of Arsenal as a team that has been pretty useless so far  (as in “They have drawn blanks in all of their past four Champions League away games”) really doesn’t tell us anything, and is primarily there to fill some space and give some sort of boost to the anti-Arteta approach to journalism.

The fact is the multiple injuries have had an effect on Arsenal in an utterly obvious way – you can’t take Saka and Odegaard out of the team, (or in Saka’s case have him playing when only half fit) and expect it not to have to effect.

So the question arises, why is the media so utterly keen to keep putting Arsenal down?   Certainly, one reason is that the media endlessly promotes and supports international football, for the simple reason that it is there and gives endless stories to fill the media.  And filling space and knocking Arsenal is what the media does – so a story that does both is worth its weight.

Arteta of course has been open and honest as he always is, saying,  “Something that is very true is that we have to improve those results and we have to find ways to understand what has been missing.”   Although it is self-evident that injuries have caused the problems and what has been missing has been a fully fit Saka and Odegaard, although it is not clear that the media fully grasped this.   Arteta also pointed out that the Champions League games are won and lost through “small margins and details.”

Because the depth of Manchester City’s utter collapse hasn’t really been appreciated by European writers, who also are still pondering how the Premier League could have allowed a team to spend so much money from their sponsors and owners before questions were raised (although in France they certain do know), there was some surprise about Sporting beating Manchester City 4-1.   But then in effect we can see now that Sporting were really only doing what Tottenham can do. 

Interestingly, although Kieran Tierney was described by Arsenal as having “had a couple of sessions but is not ready yet to be with the team’,” the Guardian says that he has been “named in the travelling squad.”   I suspect that is a “welcome back” move and not a sign that he will play or even be on the bench.

So just what is Asenal’s run of results against Sporting?   Here’s the full list…