MATCH REPORT: Sporting 2 – 2 Arsenal

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Sporting Clube de Portugal (1) 2 Arsenal (1) 2

Europa League, Round of Sixteen, First Leg of Two

Estádio José Alvalade, Rua Professor Fernando da Fonseca, 1501-806 Lisboa, Portugal

Thursday, 9th March 2023. Kick-off time: 5.45pm

(4-3-3) Matt Turner; Ben White, William Saliba, Jakob Kiwior, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Fabio Vieira, (Marcus Vinicius Oliveira Alencar) Marquinhos, Granit Xhaka (c); Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Reiss Nelson.

Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Thomas Partey, Gabriel Magalhães, Emile Smith-Rowe, Rob Holding, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Mauro Bandeira, James Hillson, Charles Sagoe Junior, Matt Smith, Reuell Walters.

Scorers: William Saliba (22 mins), Hidemasa Morita (62 mins o.g.)

Yellow Cards: Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Martinelli

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 68%

Referee: Tobias Stieler (Germany)

Assistant Referees: Christian Gittelmann (Germany), Mark Borsch (Germany)

Fourth Official: Robert Schröder (Germany)

Referee Observer: Carlos Velasco Carballo (Spain)

VAR Team at UEFA: VAR Bastian Dankert (Germany); AVAR Sören Storks (Germany)

Attendance: 36,006

Mikel Arteta has picked an interesting team tonight, with six changes from last Saturday’s game against AFC Bournemouth. It is also good to see quite a few young players on the substitute’s bench tonight as well. Our captain, Martin Ødegaard, is unwell this evening, so Granit Xhaka takes the armband for this crucial away fixture in Lisbon.

A first touch for debutant Jakub Kiwior as we pass it around the back before Ben White tried to catch out the opposition’s defence with a ball over the top for Bukayo Saka, which was cleared to safety. A good try early on in the game, though. Reiss Nelson chipped the ball in from the left but Gabriel Martinelli was stretching as his header was picked up fairly easily by the Sporting keeper. The home side had a good chance to score from Pedro Goncalves which thankfully went nowhere, and a couple of minutes later, a Gabriel Martinelli shot was parried by the goalie, which gave us a corner kick. From the corner, Granit Xhaka nicely set up Fabio Vieira but his shot was blocked on the edge of the box by a Sporting defender. Bukayo Saka passed the ball to Fabio Vieira to his right and defender Matheus Reis slid in to concede a corner. From the corner, taken by Fabio Vieira, it was curled in straight to William Saliba and he sent a strong header past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net to open the scoring. Sadly, after the goal, the home side reacted angrily for something that happened off the ball in the build-up, and because of the confrontation that appeared, both Oleksandr Zinchenko and Sebastian Coates were both booked. Fabio Vieira was then caught by Sebastian Coates, who had just been booked (and very lucky not to have been sent off for his trouble), on the edge of the Sporting penalty area. The home side started to string some good passes together, and Matt Turner was called into action with a couple of superb saves. Unfortunately, from a corner, Goncalo Inacio scored the equalising goal with ten minutes of the first half remaining. As expected, we came straight back at them, with some very strong attacks. Fabio Vieira lobbed it into the box but it was headed away for Oleksandr Zinchenko to pick it up and his shot went flying into the crowd. With three minutes before the break, Fabio Vieira curled a ball in towards Granit Xhaka and it was cleared by a defender for another Arsenal corner. The ball was sent in deep towards the back post but the header from Granit Xhaka was kept out by a combination of the post and goalkeeper. In the confusion afterwards, Gabriel Martinelli received a pointless yellow card, and in injury time, Granit Xhaka whipped in a cross that Reiss Nelson was unlucky not to get a foot to. Matt Turner wobbled and gifted a ball it to Marcus Edwards but he was fortunate that the ball bounced straight off the Sporting man and he could easily gather it up. In the final minute of injury time, Oleksandr Zinchenko played a superb ball over the top of the Sporting defence looking for Gabriel Martinelli but their defence blocked him off and slotted the ball calmly back to their goalkeeper.

The home side kicked off the second half, and they came straight at us, forcing Matt Turner to make a couple of good saves in order to keep the Sporting forwards away from his goal. A couple of minutes later, Oleksandr Zinchenko deceived the Sporting defence with a clever chip that Gabriel Martinelli ran onto, but sadly his effort was pushed aside by the Sporting goalie. Fabio Vieira had a chance that was saved by the goalkeeper, and a couple of minutes later a superb Gabriel Martinelli header went inches over the bar. Sadly, the home team took the lead shortly afterwards when a shot from Pedro Goncalves was deflected back into the middle of the penalty area and Paulinho was on hand to score Sporting’s second goal. On the hour, Gabriel Martinelli almost scored an incredible solo goal, when he ran all the way from the halfway line, avoiding several challenges and going around the keeper before Jeremiah St Juste sprinted back to make a crucial, goal-saving last-ditch challenge. The game was moving fast with chances at both ends of the pitch, but suddenly we grabbed a second, equalising goal when a Granit Xhaka cross deflected off Hidemasa Morita and bounced awkwardly into his own net.There was a VAR check for the challenge from granit Xhaka in the build-up to the goal, but thankfully the goal stood. Just after the restart, Takehiro Tomiyasu replaced Oleksandr Zinchenko and a minute or so later, Fabio Vieira almost scored with a great header that went inches over the bar. Gabriel Martinelli picked out Reiss Nelson on the edge of the penalty area but his shot went way over the crossbar. With seventeen minutes of the game remaining, Mikel Arteta made three substitutions; Thomas Partey, Emile-Smith Rowe and Gabriel replaced Jakub Kiwior, Jorginho and Reiss Nelson to add some spark to the proceedings, hopefully. The match started to get a little bit scrappy, and despite a superb effort by Fabio Vieira which was deemed to be offside, with about ten minutes of the match remaining, Emile Smith-Rowe’s free kick was curled in towards Takehiro Tomiyasu but he was penalised for a push on a Sporting defender in the penalty area. William Saliba blocked a shot from Jeremiah St Juste (who received a deserved yellow card for a late foul on Takehiro Tomiyasu) and a couple of minutes before the end of the match, we had a penalty call turned down when Granit Xhaka went down in the Sporting penalty area. In the four minutes injury time, Mikel Arteta could be seen urging his players to keep on moving as they tried to find a way through the Sporting defence in the dying minutes. Ben White was being screamed at by Mikel Arteta to get back and stay in the defensive shape, just as Bukayo Saka cut inside a Sporting defender to hit it straight at the goalkeeper. A minute later, referee Tobias Stieler blew the whistle for the end of the game, and all in all, there was relief all round.

Basically, it is all to play for in seven days’ time back at the Emirates, but Mikel Arteta knows that we will have to improve defensively if we are to advance to the quarter-finals against opponents who started the season in the Champions League. We were wobbly at times tonight, but at least we took a draw away from Lisbon. All to play for next Thursday in London, but before that, there is a little matter of yet another derby day in the Premiership, this time at Craven Cottage. Keep going boys.

Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday, 12th March at 2.00pm (Premier League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon

Should Arteta “throw” the Europa League?

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My mantra since the World Cup has been “one game at a time”.

When your squad is not as big as Manchester City’s, you can cause yourself trouble if you begin resting and rotating players in the Premier League. I have lost count how often I have seen teams rest a player for the enxt game, only to lose the first game. And the second.

But the Europa League is a different kettle of fish, and with us 5 points clear of the top of the league, tonights team should be influenced by who will play Sunday away to Fulham.

The Fulham game is the most important match this week. But likewise, you want to retain momentum.

In January, we put out a weak team against Manchester City in the FA Cup and lost. We then gained just 1 point from our next 3 games.

It was frustrating to “throw” the FA Cup game against City, only to then lose against Everton.

So whilst I do expect a changed team tonight, I do not think Mikel Arteta will put out a full 2nd XI. He will still want to win the game.

Matt Turner will get a run out in goal. And I also expect Takehiro Tomiyasu and Rob Holding to come in at right back and central defence.

Originally, I had Kieran Tierney getting a chance at left back, but with his latest injury I think Arteta might play new boy Jakub Kiwior as the “inverted full back” in place of Oleksandr Zinchenko.

I watched a youth game a couple of weeks ago and Kiwior looked very comfortable with the ball at his feet, and is extremely mobile.

Whilst he might not have Zinchenko’s technique – but what defender does? – he could become an option at left back next season.

With his latest injury, the time has come to cash in on Tierney. Tomiyasu will be first choice cover at right and left back. That would leave us with just 3 full backs.

Further cover could then be provided by Kiwior, Brooke Norton-Cuffy and Lino Sousa.

What would mean we could raise £20-30million for Tierney, and not need to buy to replace. Tonight could be the chance to see if Kiwior can play in the inverted left back position.

If Kiwior does play left back, I would expect Gabriel to play inside of him. That would give the left hand side a solid feel.

Ahead of them, Thomas Partey will be protected, with Jorginho coming in.

I blogged when we signed Jorginho that he had a key role to play in Europe. I expect Partey to be kept fresh for every Premier League game, with the Italian coming in for him mid-week.

Following his goal on Saturday, Reiss Nelson surely gets a run out against Sporting.

We have discussed this week about Nelson’s future at the club. The only way he will earn a new contract is by playing well on the pitch. The Europa League could provide him with a final chance to show he has a future.

Fabio Vieira will also continue as a member of the Europa League team.

The Portuguese midfielder has been disappointing this year, but he also has not had much consistent playing time.

There is certainly a good technical player in there, but he needs to play more. But with Martin Odegaard and Grant Xhaka in such fine form, it is impossible to make a case for him to start a Premier League match. Europe will be his place.

With no Mo Elneny and with Albert Sambi Lokonga on loan, the options in the other 8 position are Granit Xhaka and Emile Smith Rowe.

I would love to see Smith Rowe play 8 as I do see him having a future playing more centrally. But with Leandro Trossard, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Jesus all out, he will likely be needed on the wing. So Xhaka will start and captain the side.

Smith Rowe will then play left wing.

Who plays upfront is interesting.

Jesus is just back into first team training. He might get minutes off the bench. Whilst Nketiah and Trossard both missed training. That just leaves Gabriel Martinelli.

The Brazilian has plenty of experience playing upfront in Europe for Arsenal, so should be a threat. He will maybe get an hour and then Jesus comes on for the last 30-35.

Predicted line up:

Turner
Tomiyasu Holding Gabriel Kiwior
Jorginho
Nelson Vieira Xhaka SmithRow
Martinelli

UTA

Keenos

Arteta Knows Best (AKB) when it comes to the future of Arsenal players

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Yesterdays blog about Reiss Nelson generated a lot of discussion across our social media.

Some pointed out that “Nelson had more than a good 10 seconds, he was good for 25 minutes”. And yes, he was very good when he comes on. But it is those final 10 seconds that got everyone talking about him.

He does not score with the last kick, then I do not think anyone would be having a discussion this week over a new contract. All talk would be over us dropping two points.

So the title of the blog very much stands as it is those 10 seconds that got us talking about his new deal.

It was interesting to watch the opinions come in, and for me it shows how reactionary some fans are.

Plenty were supporting him getting a new deal, with many saying how good he had been when called upon this season and how it was obvious Mikel Arteta liked him.

He has played just 85 minutes of Premier League football in 26 games. That is 85 minutes out of a possible 2,340. So what some fans are saying is that he has been good for 4% of the total available minutes this season. Not exactly something to be boasting about?

Also Arteta has only selected him for 4% of the available minutes. I would say that shows Mikel does not rate him.

But moving the conversation on, if Reiss stayed, what would our attacking options be?

Gabriel Jesus
Eddie Nketiah
Folarin Balogun
Bukayo Saka
Gabriel Martinelli
Leandro Trossard
Emile Smith Rowe
Reiss Nelson
Marquinhos

That would be 9 options for 3 positions.

Now at this point some will be saying “we need strength in depth if we are in the Champions League”, and they are right.

Most top teams will have 2 top players for every position. As it stands we would have 3. Far too many. At most, we need 7 in those positions..

So who would be the 7?

Jesus, Martinelli, Saka, Trossard are the gaurantees. You will only find weirdos sitting in their mums basement who would argue against those 4. So from the remaining 5, who remains?

Nketiah or Balogun

I have made the argument a few times that we do not need both Nketiah and Baologun.

We play one up top, so we only really need 2 out and out strikers, and then perhaps a winger who can also play down the middle.

Most top teams adopt this approach. Think Haaland and Alvarez at Manchester City or Kane and Richarlison at Spurs. These are then backed up further by “wide forwards” who play down the middle. We have that option in Trossard.

A lot of those who want Nelson to get a new deal are also calling for Balogun to “get a chance”. That would indicate to me that they would rather have Balogun than Nketiah. I can not agree with that.

Nketiah has done nothing to deserve to be dropped. And Balogun has not proven that he would be a better option.

If we are looking to replace Nketiah, we should be getting in someone we know is better. Ivan Toney or Ollie Watkins for example. We do not know if Balogun is better.

I would keep Nketiah. I would also cash in on Balgoun whilst his value is high rather than loan him out.

Emile Smith Rowe

For some time I have felt that this could be Smith Rowe’s last season with Arsenal.

He has a poor injury record going back to his academy days. I would not be surprised if we cash in on him if a high enough bid comes in.

Smith Rowe is an intelligent boy who can play left and right. He is also an option at 10. Some also think he could also play as a false 9. If he stays fit his versatility could be an asset.

And if he stays, he would be the 6th man on the list.

Jesus, Saka, Martinelli, Trossard, Nketiah/Balogun, Smith Rowe.

Now at this point, we would have our two players for every position. We could go into next season with just these 6.

Reiss Nelson or Marquinhos

So do we keep Nelson around as 7th choice? Or keep Marquinhos?

I have seen some say “give Nelson a 2 year deal with an option for a 3rd”. These people do not live in the real world. They forget a player has to agree a contract.

Others have said “give Nelson a 5-year deal and loan him out”.

If you are 23-years-old, have already had two loan deals, and a 3rd loan deal is being proposed, then you are not going to make it. A new 5-year deal in that situation would only be prolonging the agony of all parties.

Now some will say “sign Nelson to a new deal and send Marquinhos on loan again”. I am not sure about this.

We are basically discussing moving a 19-year-old back out on loan to accomodate a 23-year-old as your 7th choice forward.

Considering Nelson also takes up a squad position, it makes little sense to me.

At this point, I would put forward a new signing.

You let Nelson leave, sell Smith Rowe, and then invest in someone who is bette (and more reliable) than the pair to cover for Saka. And if that player can also play down the middle, it is winner winner.

I think this is a realistic option for next year.

We are desperate for cover for Saka, and right wing is not the best position for either Smith Rowe or Nelson. We would be sacrificing two injury prone players to then bring in someone without a questionable fitness record. And that player could also be an option upfront.

So for me next season? I would go:

Jesus
Nketiah
Martinelli Saka
Trossard NewRW
Marquinhos

That would then give us the 6 front line attacking options we need, as well as a 7th choice development player.

We improve on this season by buying better players that what we have. And in that forward line, Nelson and Smith Rowe are the two we could easily upgrade on.

Mkight wrench the heart selling Hale End boys, but we are in the football business to win trophies.

If you have not made it 6 years after making your senior debut, then you are never going to make it.

As someone else said to me Monday:

Just back Arteta’s decision. If he wants to keep Nelson, a new deal will be offered. If he does not, then we need to back his decision. Arteta Knows Best.

Tomorrow we focus on the Europa League. A game where Nelson will be given the chance to shine.

Keenos