Mikel Arteta takes his Arsenal side to Lisbon on Tuesday night as they take on Sporting CP in the Champions League, with the hosts settling into life after Ruben Amorim. With the head coach now departed for Manchester United, the Primeira Liga leaders are under the guidance of Joao Pereira from this point onwards, with his first game resulting in a 6-0 cup win against lower-league opposition.
This will be somewhat of a bigger test, but Sporting have the comfort of points on the board after Amorim led them to 10 points from four games, leaving them second in the expanded Champions League table, behind only Liverpool. Arsenal have been a little less consistent, with seven points accrued to put them 12th – good enough for a playoff spot but not automatic qualification, so improvements are needed if that remains the aim.
One big issue is the Gunners’ away form in Europe, with just one away win in eight years in this competition. Follow the live blog below for team news and match action from Sporting v Arsenal:
Sporting v Arsenal – Champions League live
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Gunners kick-off in Lisbon at 8pm BST | Match shown live on TNT Sports
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Sporting second in Champions League table and unbeaten, Arsenal 12th after losing to Inter
Sporting Clube de Portugal – Arsenal FC
Sporting v Arsenal – live
13:37 , Karl Matchett
Good evening and welcome to our live coverage of Sporting CP vs Arsenal in the Champions League – a big night for the Gunners in trying to get their automatic qualification hopes back on track.
They are only a couple of points adrift of the top eight ahead of this week’s round of games, but with only three more matches to play after tonight, they can’t afford to lose much more ground if they don’t want to head into the playoffs.
