- Sporting CP v Arsenal: the Arsenal line up, the premonitions, the prediction
- Sporting v Arsenal: not utterly confident but still hopeful
By Bulldog Drummond
If it is in the talking sprout then it is going to be negative, and so it is: “Gunners could match unwanted Champions League record in Portugal.” And what is that record I hear you cry?
Well it must be a big one as they say, “Arsenal are on the brink of a record they won’t want to achieve…”
“The Gunners are winless in their five away games in the Champions League, losing three and drawing two. In the last four, they have also failed to score. Only one English team have ever gone five games without finding the net and that was Man United in the 2004/05 season.”
Now the question really is, does this matter, or is this just put in to fill up space and make us feel bad? And the answer is yes both of those because basically very few people turn to TalkSport when they feel good. Listen (if you can) to any of their phone ins for a while and what you get are negatives.
There is an attempt to balance this up a bit with, “In their opening four Champions League fixtures, Arteta’s side have only managed to score three goals in total. However, they have only conceded one too, with entertaining games seemingly hard to come by in Europe this season.” but it is a bit feeble.
As for the team the sprout says “Arteta may make changes to his back line, with Tierney, Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko potentially coming in…. Riccardo Calafiori could be rested while Mikel Merino could also get a rest after playing 90 minutes at the weekend.”
The team they pick are
Raya
Kiwior Gabriel Saliba Timber
Rice Patey Odegaard
Martinelli Havertz Saka
Football London ponders whether Jorginho will keep his place in the line up noting that generally he only plays if Rice can’t and we all expect Rice to be back for this game. Jorginho has hinted that the latter could be the case after posting a matchday graphic on his Instagram story late on Monday night. Apparently this was something he did before the game against Nottingham Forest. So that’s the new game – seeing who has posted what and then using that in order to determine who is going to play. I suppose it keeps the journalists happy.
Mind you, even the BBC with all its resources is struggling to find something novel to say ahead of the match. They end up quoting Arteta as saying, “Be ruthless, be efficient in the opposition box and do what we have to do to take the three points away from here.”
They note of course, as does almost everyone that “Sporting beat Manchester City 4-1 in their final Champions League game under Ruben Amorim” but of course they have now got a new manager – and what sort of poisoned chalice is that? The club won the league for the 20th time last season with the second-highest number of points ever, and then the league winners’ manager (who could of course have his pick of any club in the world to go to) chooses to go to Manchester United. Something odd about that if you ask me.
So anyway, Arsenal’s opponents tonight are now managed by former reserve team coach Joao Pereira. Noting the side’s 17 wins and one draw in the last 18 games, Mikel Arteta is quoted as saying, “That is a great challenge that we have, to come here and make a statement and show we are capable against this kind of opponent. Be ourselves and win the game.”
Sports Mole are predicting a 2-2 draw tonight, making the interesting observation that “Had Arsenal been travelling to Sporting before the international break with no Odegaard in the ranks, Arteta’s men would no doubt have been at risk of sharing the same fate as Man City, but Saturday’s stellar success ought to be the catalyst for a Christmas renaissance.”
Their team prediction is
Raya;
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori;
Odegaard, Partey, Rice;
Saka, Havertz, Martinelli
But they are being a bit cute today saying, “Only one Premier League side has ever gone scoreless in five straight away games in Europe’s premier tournament – Manchester United from 2004 to 2005 – and even an Amorim-less Sporting have every reason to believe that they can condemn Arsenal to that unwanted fate.”
Which is ok, we can let them believe everything they want to believe. But in the meantime we might note that Kai Havertz has scored seven, Bukayo Saka has scored five, Ethan Nwaneri (who might come on as a sub) has got four and Gabriel Martinelli three.
The Arsenal squad for the trip is
Neto, Raya, Setford; Calafiori, Gabriel, Heaven, Kiwior, Saliba, Tierney, Timber, Zinchenko; Havertz, Jorginho, Lewis-Skelly, Merino, Nwaneri, Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Jesus, Martinelli, Saka, Sterling and Trossard
So unless something big turns up this afternoon, that’s it from us. A staggering result might actually demand a further posting tonight, but if not, we’ll attempt to be back tomorrow morning.
Earlier reports:
- Sporting v Arsenal: the problem is, we find it hard to beat them
- Sporting v Arsenal: concerns that the new format is not working as it should
