Arsenal may have won ten games in a row so far, but tonight’s game against Sporting Club de Portugal is likely to be our toughest test yet as we aim to carry on our winning run, especially as it is guaranteed that Emery will be tinkering with his line-up as we are set to travel to Crystal Palace on Sunday. Currently Sporting are in fifth place in the Primeira Liga but only four points behind the leaders Benfica.
Emery admitted that this is not going to be easy. He told Arsenal.com: “For us first this competition is very, very important and the opposition tomorrow is a very good team with a very good experience in this competition and with good players.
“Sporting changed players and also the coach this year but for us in this moment we are two teams both in the first position and our mind is to arrive first in this group and to continue in our way thinking how we can improve.
“This is a very, very big match and important for our confidence and to try to continue working tactically on the things with the players with a lot of respect for them. We want to win against Sporting.”
We may want to win but we all need to be aware that there is no such thing as an easy game at the Estádio José Alvalade as the facts tell us that Sporting have not lost a home game in any competition for over a year, in fact the last team to win there was Barcelona who won 1-0 last September.
The Stadium holds 50,000 and they have a very vocal support (and don’t mess with the Ultras!). It will be a very intimidating atmosphere, so if we win tonight with a weakened side I for one will be extremely impressed. I would be happy with a draw so we can top of the Group by beating them back at the Emirates….
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