So we’re back in Champions League action this evening and it’s the Portuguese champions we are up against in Lisbon tonight, in a game that sees a repeat of the March 2023 Europa League Round of 16 we played in March 2023. That game finished 2-2 and at the time I think most of us felt that it was enough for us and that we’d take it back to the Emirates and progress. But Sporting had other ideas and we went out on penalties after they scored that strike from around the halfway line to beat Ramsdale and draw us level.

Arteta was asked about those two games in his press conference last night and he said he re-watched them, but I think in reality the similarities are few and far between. Sure, Sporting lined up with Amorim’s trademark three at the back, four in midfield and three attackers, but in terms of personnel, only Diomande and Trincao remain in the first XI as regulars from the team we played 18 months ago. Our team that day will also look markedly different; Saliba, Gabriel and Martinelli will all play I suspect, but there will be no Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, Zinchenko, Nelson, Jorginho, Xhaka, Fabio Vieira or Gabriel Jesus I suspect. Perhaps a place on the bench for Zinny, Jorginho and Jesus, but I think the rotation of some players on Saturday was with this game in mind.

And that’s because I think Arteta knows he needs to see his team deliver a statement win away from home in this competition, having failed to score away so far with draws away to Atalanta and that 1-0 defeat to Inter before the international break. Arsenal sit in 12th – something Arteta was asked about and will be very mindful of – and if they want that automatic qualification, they’ll have to deliver a much improved performance than our last two outings away in this competition. Against Atalanta it felt like we were happy to keep them at arms length. Against Inter we dominated ball and created a few decent chances we couldn’t finish, but we looked leggy and out of ideas in that second half. Tonight Arteta will be charging his team with ball control, with more incision and with more purpose and drive than we’ve seen so far.

The win last Saturday will help and certainly it felt like we had more zip about us. A lot of that came from Odegaard and Saka, but I think the rotation of other players could play a part again tonight too. Rice has had a rest and hopefully is back tonight. Martinelli sat down for the whole game on Saturday so I think he’ll be chomping at the bit. Plus Havertz will hopefully have benefitted from taking a seat on Saturday. So what I’m hoping for is an Arsenal side full of energy.

But we have to be mindful of a Sporting side who will be so confident right now they’ll be expecting to create chances and do us damage. Viktor Gyokeres is Europe’s most lethal striker right now with an insane 24 goals in 19 matches. He has five in the Champions League and got a hat trick against City last time they played and whilst Arteta batted away individual plaudits for him – saying he preferred to talk about the whole team – there’s no way that he and his coaching staff won’t have paid particular attention to the Swede right now.

That City game was a real statement of intent too, although I will say that City absolutely battered them in the first half and probably should have been a few goals up, then Sporting scored against the run of play and it was because of the crazy high line City were playing. Then there was two penalties and Haaland missed a pen too, so whilst on paper it looks like a comfortable win when you don’t look at any stats, the reality is that Sporting did a bit of a number on City on the night and relied on a few things going their way.

We have to avoid that tonight. We have to dominate possession, be wary of the rapid counter, but most importantly take our chances because if we get space like City did and chances like City did, we need to be scoring where City didn’t.

Amorim may be gone and Arteta may have said that every coach is different and this will be different to when he was in the dugout, but there’s little a new manager would change when you join a team who have won practically all of the games they’ve played this season, so I’m expecting this Sporting side to still take on the persona of their departed manager. They will play their three at the back, they will be aggressive in their press and will probably look to squeeze the space between their defence and midfield to congest us and stop us running through. That’s where the likes of Odegaard will be vitally important, but I also wonder if Martinelli has a big role to play today. If Sporting do press high and if there is space out wide, with the way we play with our wide forward in having them hugging the touchline sometimes, I wonder if it might give Martinelli a bit more space to run in to. Maybe that’s where we can have some joy.

It feels to me like evading a Sporting press is where we create space, so whilst as a fan at times it will feel scary, we want to draw them on to us a little more to create spaces, because they won’t want to be pulled apart too much and the way Amorim has set up historically is to compress when they don’t have the ball, then spring transition traps – that’s what they did against City.

Tonight will be a tough game, we’ll have a noisy home crowd and one that is not used to seeing it’s team lose these days, so we have to be on it if we want to take all three points.

Let’s hope we can.

Back tomorrow with a match review of what transpired.