Arsenal have been bombarded with criticism of late, which is warranted given how they’ve collapsed domestically, but their record in the Champions League is really positive. 

Arsenal have won all five of their home games in the Champions League this season, it’s really easy to forget their dominant victories over Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid at the Emirates, in which they completely dominated those sides. 

Arteta’s side need a lift, and the Champions League should be able to deliver that morale boost - if Arsenal get through here, then they could have a relatively uncomplicated route to the final with Atletico Madrid looking likely to be their semi-final opponents. 

Sporting’s best performances this season have come at home. They’ve lost to Napoli, Bayern Munich, and Bodo Glimt on the road in the Champions League this term, so you get the feeling that they just missed their chance to make something of this tie by not getting on the scoresheet in the first leg.

David Raya made some important stops in Lisbon last week as Arsenal registered a 1-0 victory over Sporting thanks to a last-minute winner from Kai Havertz. Raya is an exceptional shot stopper and was called into action five times in that game, earning him the man of the match title. 

Raya has kept seven clean sheets across his 10 starts in the Champions League this season, only conceding three goals across these matches. He’s been called into action 27 times in the Premier League (2.70 per 90) and is likely to be tested at least twice by a Sporting side who do have quality in the final third, as they showed last week with their five efforts on target.

It’s also pretty notable that Raya is busier in the Champions League than he is in the Premier League. His save average jumps from 1.59 saves per 90 in the Premier League to 2.70 saves per 90 in the Champions League - so there is a clear trend of Raya being more active when playing in Europe for the Gunners.

Sporting committed exactly 11 fouls when these sides faced off last week, and I think they’ll be able to get to that foul tally again here.

Fouls can be a bit of a frustrating market to bet on when they take a while to stack up, but Sporting have maintained an average of 10.7 fouls committed per game in the Champions League this season - a total that should rise just slightly here.

Only three sides in the Champions League have picked up more yellow cards this season than Sporting (23). They’re chasing the tie here, so there is naturally going to be a bit of angst from the away side as they look to get that goal that will get them back in the contest.

Arsenal haven’t been at their strongest of late, but still tend to be pretty dominant at home in the Champions League and will look to break the game up as much as possible.

Geny Catamo was hauled down three times when the sides faced off last week, and can offer a threat on the counterattack to Arsenal again here as Sporting look to get back into this tie.

Catamo was caught offside twice in that game, suggesting that the winger was constantly looking to run beyond Arsenal’s high defensive line and act as an outlet for Sporting. This proved to be pretty effective, with Catamo having four shots in the game and accounting for three of the five shots that Sporting managed to get on target.

Catamo has drawn 16 fouls across his eight starts in the Champions League this season (2.05 per 90), showing that this trait of Catamo’s is pretty consistent in the Champions League. His domestic numbers are also pretty convincing, with Catamo maintaining an average of 2.11 fouls won per 90 across his 20 starts in Liga Portugal this term.

Something really fascinating happens with Martinelli in the Champions League. He assisted Havertz for the winner in Sporting last week, taking his goal contribution tally to eight goals in the Champions League for Arsenal - more than any other Arsenal player in the competition.

He’s not the only Premier League winger who gets more success playing in the Champions League. Anthony Gordon noted earlier in the season how he prefers playing in Europe, as teams are less likely to sit back, giving these wide players more room to create chances and take on players 1v1.

These eight goal contributions for Martinelli have come across just five starts in the Champions League, and are double the number of goal contributions he’s registered in the Premier League (4) - despite making double the number of starts domestically. 

Calafiori is a brilliant player to watch when he is given licence to get forward. I don’t think he’s actually that complete defensively, but the positions he takes up as an advancing left back cause plenty of problems, and he can be a bit of a wildcard here for Arsenal as they look to secure their spot in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

There was a point in the season where Calafiori led the Arsenal rankings for shots, which isn’t totally surprising - when you look at the list of Arsenal players in the shot on target market, there aren’t many that jump out to you as a solid choice so opting for a more rogue option is worthwhile for a side that don’t have a player you would earmark as a certainty for a shot on target. Even Gyokeres laboured to his shot on target against Sporting last week. 

Calafiori has taken three shots across his three starts in the Champions League this season (0.99 per 90), with one of these efforts finding the target. He’s also maintained an average of just under 2.0 shots per 90 in the Premier League (1.73), chipping in with three goal contributions, which shows how willing Calafiori is to get forward when he is instructed to by Mikel Arteta.

I have no idea how Maxi Araujo avoided a caution last week. You’d feel sick if you backed him for a card and checked the stats at the end to see he committed seven fouls without getting booked. Madueke caused him all sorts of problems in that game, drawing three fouls himself, and the pair should renew their battle here.

Araujo has picked up three yellow cards across his 10 starts in the Champions League this season, committing 20 fouls across these games (2.02 per 90). He’s also averaging 3.84 tackles per 90 - more than any other Sporting player - which shows just how committed he gets in these 1v1 duels. Ideally, we’d want Araujo up against Saka here, but Madueke can cause him just as many problems.

Madueke has drawn eight fouls across his four starts in the Champions League this term (1.76 per 90). He likes taking on players 1v1 and will know that he’s got the read on Araujo, having beaten him on multiple occasions last week. Araujo is unlikely to get away with such a high foul count again after last week, and Madueke can test him to a similar degree.