Arsenal will look to book their place in the next stage of the Europa League this Thursday when they take on Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon in the second leg of their Europa League knock-out tie.
The hosts come into this game after an impressive 3-0 win over Fulham in the Premier League. The result maintained the Gunners’ five points lead at the top of the Premier League table and extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to six games (W5, D1).
After securing a 2-2 draw in the first leg of this tie, Mikel Arteta’s side have it all to play for now at the Emirates. The fact that they are at home in this second leg will give them a big boost, given that the Gunners have seven wins from nine home games against Portuguese clubs in European competition (D1, L1).
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Mikel Arteta’s side have also won five of their last seven UEFA ties in which they drew the away leg first, so they will be confident of winning here. However, the hosts have yet to concede a home UEL goal this term (W3), so Sporting will have a mountain to climb to bridge that defence on Thursday night.
But the Portuguese side have goals aplenty in them. They followed up their 2-2 draw with Arsenal last Thursday with a brilliant 3-0 win over Boavista in the Portuguese league. The win extended their scoring run in all competitions to ten games and was the sixth time in the last ten games they have scored 2+ goals in a game.
The Lions are also unbeaten in all competitions in their last seven games (W5, D2) and so will be confident of a good result at the Emirates. Moreover, they have progressed from their previous six ties against English sides in the knock-out stages of UEFA’s second-tier club competition. Still, they are winless in their last nine away games against English opposition in major European competitions (D4, L5).
So the signs point to an Arsenal win here and an over 2.5 goals game in favour of the Gunners.
