Few reasons to smile in Alvalade after the draw for the round of 16 of the Europa League. Sporting will face Arsenal, leader of the demanding Premier League and with a practically immaculate campaign in European competitions.
Londoners entered directly into the Europa League group stage, this after having finished last season in fifth place in the Premier League, where only the top four qualify for the Champions League.
It was in Eindhoven that the team led by the Spaniard Mikel Arteta, Pep Guardiola’s former assistant at Manchester City, suffered the only defeat in the group stage, having won the remaining five games to guarantee the first place in Group A where the Norwegians from Bodo/Glimt (3rd) and the Swiss FC Zurich (4th).
It is, however, in the English League that the gunners are stronger: there are 17 wins, three draws and three defeats in 23 rounds, a performance that is worth the isolated leadership of the Premier League with a two-point lead over second-placed Manchester City, which has one more game to play.
Arsenal has combined good results with numbers that show how difficult it is to overcome Arteta’s strategy: it has the second best attack in the Premier League, with 51 goals scored, behind Manchester City (60); and the second best defense, with 23 goals conceded, only surpassed by Newcastle (15).
Already out of the rest of domestic competitions – they were eliminated by Brighton (1-3) in the 3rd round of the League Cup and by Manchester City (0.1) in the 4th round of the FA Cup -, Arsenal is, therefore, completely focused on winning the Premier League, which has not won since 2004, and the first European title since 1994 when he won the defunct Cup Winners’ Cup.
For this, Arteta has a squad filled with experienced players, such as the Swiss Granit Xhaka, the Ghanaian Thomas Partey, the Italian Jorginho and the Belgian Leandro Trossard, and young values such as the Portuguese Fábio Vieira (ex-FC Porto), the Norwegian Martin Odegaard or Englishman Bukayo Saka, the team’s top scorer with 10 goals.
Hector Bellerín, Sporting’s winter signing, could be an important asset for Rúben Amorim as the Spanish full-back was linked to Arsenal for eleven seasons, knowing the club’s philosophy. He was part of the squad but did not play against Sporting when, in 2018/19, the English faced the lions in the Europa League group stage: they won in Alvalade, by 1-0, and drew without goals, at home.
The first leg is scheduled for March 9, in Alvalade, the second for March 16, in London.
