Arsenal aims to avoid a third consecutive defeat as they travel to Sporting Lisbon for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie on Tuesday.
The Gunners head into the contest after back-to-back setbacks, first falling to Manchester City in the EFL Cup final before suffering a disappointing 2-1 defeat at Southampton in Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final, while the Portuguese hosts arrive on the back of three straight victories.
Arsenal’s pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple had briefly gathered momentum, though it always appeared a tall order, and recent results have dealt a significant blow to their hopes of a historic clean sweep.
After being outclassed by Pep Guardiola’s Man City in the EFL Cup final, Mikel Arteta’s men then failed to make their superiority count in Saturday’s loss at St Mary’s, where Gyokeres’s equaliser was not enough to prevent the North London side from slipping to their first back-to-back defeats of the season.
However, dreams of a double remain very much alive, with the Gunners sitting nine points clear at the top of the Premier League table, albeit having played one game more than City in second place, while a return to Champions League action offers further reason for optimism.
Arsenal remain the only side yet to suffer defeat in Europe’s elite competition this season, finishing top of the league phase with a perfect record before overcoming Bayer Leverkusen across two legs in the round of 16.
The Gunners earned a late draw at the BayArena, but strikes from Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice proved decisive in a 2-0 second-leg victory at the Emirates, sealing a third consecutive quarter-final appearance.
As Arsenal aim to reach the semi-finals in successive seasons, and only a fourth time overall, they face a Sporting CP side that is strong at home, having won all five of their Champions League matches at Alvalade this season. However, they have never beaten Arsenal in seven previous meetings.
Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres scored six goals in eight appearances for Sporting in the UEFA Champions League last season. He could become the first player to score both for and against the Portuguese side in the competition.
After a difficult start at Arsenal, he has started delivering. He has 11 shots on target in the eight UCL games he's played for Arsenal this season, scoring four goals.
Sporting have been flying recently, with three convincing wins in their last three games, including a 5-0 triumph over Bodo/Glimt to get themselves into this phase of the Champions League. The emphatic win came after a 3-0 away defeat, and it tells a lot about Sporting's impact at home.
