Well now, wasn’t that a lot more fun last night than we expected, eh?

I don’t think there are any Arsenal fans that thought that Mikel Arteta and his charges were going to head over to Portugal, absolutely blitz an unbeaten team with a 100% domestic win record this season, with one of the clubs best ever score lines in European football. You’d have been a confident person if you did that’s for sure.

I personally would have taken a scabby 1-0 away performance that gave us the three points that were needed, but given the statement that was made by this Arsenal team, I think we can all agree we are much happier. As the intolerable Steve Mcmanaman and Darren Fletcher said on commentary in the UK that I was watching, this is the kind of performance and squad that does make you think that Arsenal can kick on from here. The Forest win was impressive, this took it up a level and I don’t think there was an Arsenal player who dropped a below eight out of ten performance last night.

Arteta went back to a more familiar starting XI from the Saturday just gone as I think most of us had expected. This is a good Sporting side, on their own turf, who will be fancying another scalp after Man City (whose implosion at the moment is making me wonder whether that draw we had at their gaff was a pretty bad result in the end) a few weeks back. This was a Sporting side with the most potent forward in Europe when you look at his goal ratio. Yet Arsenal set about dismantling the Portuguese champions and now in the cold light of day I think there will be the rest of Europe waking up and taking some note.

Gyokeres was kept pretty quiet all night, thanks to the absolute number that Saliba did on him; every ball the Frenchman mopped up and every channel run he just held him off with consummate ease. Next to him his partner Big Gabi was also there to ensure balls were knocked away easily and either side of them was Calafiori and Timber who made up what looked like the miserly defence from last season. Which is amusing because a) we didn’t actually keep a clean sheet, and b) two of those players didn’t really feature for Arsenal at all last season.

The start we had was the perfect one too. There was a fair bit made by ‘Fletch and Macca’ about it being similar to how City started in Lisbon, but as opposed to the comeback and rope-a-dope that Sporting managed to successfully execute against City, we were better prepared and took our chances. The first goal was superbly executed down our right hand side and Timber’s ball in was the archetypal ‘corridor of uncertainty’ ball that is between the ‘keeper and the defender that is so difficult to defend. Close to goal, if you come steamrollering in as a defender you risk an OG, you’ve got strikers attacking it and the ‘keeper doesn’t want to come. Martinelli graciously accepted Jurrien’s gift to him and we were up and running within seven minutes.

We took control of the game from the off and on that right hand side of ours Sporting had no answer. The one-touch football was brilliant, but also so was the pockets of space all of our players seem to find. But even when there was some congestion around them, the Arsenal players were able to quick-touch their way out of it. I thought Partey and Odegaard in particular were superb at that. And before a third of the game had gone we were two ahead and at the point in which Havertz tapped home the ball after Saka’s super run and nutmeg of the ‘keeper, you had a feeling that Arsenal would be in control for the night. That feeling was extended with Gabriel’s headed corner goal and once again, as they said in commentary, it was as if Sporting didn’t realise what Arsenal’s super powers are:

  • We are most effective in creating boxes and triangles on the right hand side
  • We are very good at corners

Both of those facts were brought to the fore in the Portuguese capital and Sporting had no answer for either. A 2-0 lead is what they call the most dangerous in football; a 3-0 lead feels like a “job done here lads if we stay focused” – a certain Manchester club should probably take heed.

Game state is something we are all aware of and that goal coming on halftime was a lot of fun, but the second half was never going to be as easy for Arsenal as the first. This was an away Champions League game, the home team would absolutely react, which they did almost instantly in the second half. I don’t know whether it was Arsenal sleeping, or just because we weren’t 100% switched on as the second half got going, but Calafiori will probably not be 100% happy with his defending for their corner goal I’d wager. Suddenly Sporting fans had something to cheer about and for about 15 minutes and until we got our penalty that Saka dispatched, they were on top and we looked a little ragged. We weren’t able to complete passes, there was some sloppiness creeping in and as a fan, you always worry that this will end up like some sort of mammoth comeback. IN a game in which you win 5-1 you don’t expect to also be hailing your goalkeeper, but Raya also made some really good saves on the night too. LIke I said above – everyone had an eight out of ten at least.

The penalty ended all hopes of that. I thought Diomande was lucky to stay on the pitch too, because his foul on Odegaard looked nasty and right down the Achilles. If that’s outside of the box I think he picks up his second yellow, but this was a classic case of the referee probably saying to himself “I’ll give the pen, that’s enough punishment because it possibly ends the game and this will peter out”. Thankfully Saka put away what was an excellent penalty and we were basically done. There was enough time to add a final cherry on the cake through Trossard’s headed nod in and we head home with three points on the night, ten in total for this competition and two home games coming up that – if we win against Monaco and Zagreb – should pretty much confirm automatic qualification I would have thought. We still have to get the job done, but this was a massive three points.

I also hope that performance and confidence it will bring will carry us in to our next few games too. West Ham were very impressive against Newcastle on Monday night and so they’ll now be going in to this match against us with a bit of a swing in their step. But hopefully our swing is bigger after that performance and result!

Onwards and upwards – bring on the weekend.

Catch you all tomorrow.