Arsenal vs Sporting Prediction and Betting Tips: Portuguese Men-O’-War Looking To Breach The Arsenal At The Emirates

Arsenal are on the brink of reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League for the second successive season after narrowly edging Sporting in the first leg.

The Gunners were not at their best in Portugal last week, but managed to grab a winner in Lisbon to lead 1-0 courtesy of Kai Havertz’s late strike.

Home advantage has been key for Arteta’s men this season, as they have won all five of their European fixtures on home soil. 

However, they will be tested by a Sporting team who have quality going forward. 

The Lions are looking to beat Arsenal for the very first time to reach their maiden semi-final in this competition, though they did progress in the 2022-23 Europa League last-16 tie between the sides on penalties after successive draws.

Rui Borges’ side are no strangers to overturning first-leg deficits, though, having recovered from 3-0 down to beat Bodø/Glimt 5-3 on aggregate in the previous round.

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While Arsenal will be at the Emirates Stadium and have that one-goal advantage, the Gunners and creativity have not exactly gone hand in hand in recent times.

Also, their defensive steel seems to have abandoned them, thanks in no small part to their fitness concerns at full-back.

However, with Sporting needing to go for broke to keep the tie alive, space will open up for the hosts to exploit, which means Arteta’s men should be able to outclass them to get through to the semifinals.

When the top three contenders to win the Champions League are all in the groove, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich are much better to watch than Arsenal.

The Gunners have a proven ability to win ugly, though, and that could help them both at home and on the continent in the weeks ahead.

With their confidence dented in recent weeks, Arsenal are unlikely to suddenly turn on the style against Sporting CP. Expect a scrappy match with a slender goal margin, or a draw at home.

Saturday’s defeat to Bournemouth was Arsenal’s first home loss in eight in all competitions, but it was their third defeat in their last four matches.

Although Sporting are not as strong on the road as they are at home, highlighted by just one win in four away games in this season’s competition, it has to be taken into account that they had four tough trips in the league format, facing Napoli, Juventus, Bayern Munich, and Athletic Bilbao.

Rui Borges’s men scored in all four of those matches – six goals in total – and will feel they can find the net again on Tuesday night.

Arsenal: (4-2-3-1)

Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Norgaard, Rice; Madueke, Eze, Trossard; Gyokeres

Sporting Lisbon: (4-2-3-1)

Silva; Fresneda, Diomande, Inacio, Araujo; Braganca, Hjulmand; Catamo, Trincao, Goncalves; Suarez

While Piero Hincapie and Eberechi Eze are back up and running sooner than expected, Martin Odegaard, Riccardo Calafiori, Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber all remain touch and go for the second leg.

Mikel Merino (foot) is Arsenal's only guaranteed absentee at present, but fellow midfielder Martin Zubimendi looked spent in the defeat to Bournemouth, so it would not be a shock to see Christian Norgaard deployed for the second leg.

Rui Borges will welcome a key fixture back to the XI in Morten Hjulmand, who was suspended for the first leg due to an accumulation of bookings.

The visitors are without two fringe attackers in Fotis Ioannidis (ligament) and ex-West Ham United winger Luis Guilherme (ankle), but are otherwise in good shape for the second leg.

Key forward Luis Suarez, who was signed as Viktor Gyokeres' replacement, is available after an administrative error initially ruled him out of contention.