Sporting CP 0 Arsenal 1: Gyokeres’ timid return, Raya’s superb saves and Arteta’s savvy subs

Arsenal secured a late win over Sporting CP in what had been a mostly cagey — and sometimes tepid — first leg of their Champions League quarter-final in Lisbon.

With the game seemingly drifting toward a goalless draw, substitute Kai Havertz latched onto Gabriel Martinelli’s pass and coolly slotted into the net.

After successive defeats — to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final and to Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-final — Mikel Arteta’s side secured a morale-boosting win, even if the performance was not all that convincing.

Both sides hit the crossbar in the first half. Sporting’s Maximiliano Araujo, bursting forward from left back onto Ousmane Diomande’s superb pass, smashed a shot that David Raya tipped onto the bar. At the other end, Noni Madueke’s inswinging corner came off the Sporting bar.

Arsenal did have the ball in the net just after the hour mark, thanks to a fine low shot from Martin Zubimendi but Viktor Gyokeres was offside in the build up and the goals was ruled out.

Sporting had chances late in the game to snatch what would have been a valuable lead, but it was Arsenal who take the crucial advantage into the second leg in London on April 15

Dan Sheldon and Tim Spiers analyse the main talking points.

Arteta’s savvy substitutions…

When Arteta brought on Kai Havertz for Martin Odegaard in the 70th minute and replaced Leandro Trossard with Gabriel Martinelli only six minutes later, he did so hoping the pair would inject some attacking quality into a match that was severely lacking in it.

And it may have taken until injury time for the pair to make their impact, but Martinelli’s assist for Havertz’s goal has turned a rather mundane team performance into a superb win for Arsenal.

Martinelli, receiving the ball on the left flank, cut inside and surged into the space that opened up before dinking a defence-splitting pass towards Havertz in the penalty box.

Havertz got the ball under control with a deft touch of his right boot, and then slotted it past the oncoming Silva with his left foot.

It was a superb pass and a lovely finish to ensure Arsenal head into the second leg on the cusp of reaching the Champions League semi final.

How did Gyokeres perform on his return to Lisbon?

It was at Sporting CP that Viktor Gyokeres established himself as one of Europe’s most prominent strikers, but on his return to Lisbon he was unable to showcase the brilliance his former club’s supporters had become accustomed to.

And although the Jose Alvalade Stadium provided the Arsenal striker with great times aplenty, his performance on Tuesday night will unlikely live long in his memory.

In the first half alone, the 27-year-old managed just nine touches, the fewest of any player on the pitch, and lost possession four times. He added a further XXX touches during the second half.

Viktor Gyokeres struggled to get into the game against his former club (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Gyokeres was also offside in the build up to Martin Zubimendi’s finish just after the hour mark, which led to VAR overruling the on-field decision to award the goal.

It took until the 68th minute for the Sweden international’s first attempt on goal, but he was immediately swarmed by four Sporting CP players and his effort was comfortably saved by goalkeeper Rui Silva.

As returns go, and no the service provided to him wasn’t great either, it is one that won’t be remembered.

And Sheldon

What needs to change for the second leg?

Well for a start some attacking adventure would be welcome.

This was a seriously tough watch, with neither team seemingly willing to risk committing too many bodies forward for fear of leaving gaps in defence to exploit.
Sporting had won 17 matches at home in a row in all competitions but were happy to try their luck with an occasional counter attack or long ball over the top, both of which Arsenal coped with relatively comfortably.

The Gunners had more of the ball, but in the first half in particular were far too laboured with it. Time and again good runs went ignored, or the pace of a sprightly attack was slowed, allowing Sporting’s defence to regroup. Set pieces were Arsenal’s main threat, again especially in the first half, and Sporting rode their luck with a couple of them.By the 80th minute mark the combined expected goals (xG) of both sides was a paltry 0.44, reflecting a tight, give-nothing-away first leg that made you wonder if away goals had been reintroduced to the competition.

Max Dowman brought much-needed creativity (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Arsenal will hope to have Bukayo Saka back for the return leg next week. He — and a bit more of Max Dowman — are the creative, inventive, quick-thinking players Arsenal need to break down a stubborn Sporting defence (the young centre-back pairing of Ousmane Diomande and Goncalo Inacio gave little away here) while remaining wary of Sporting’s pacey threat on the break.

Tim Spiers

Raya shows what has been missing

Against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final and then away to Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-final, Mikel Arteta left David Raya on the bench.

As he had done in both domestic cup competitions this season, the Arsenal manager picked second-choice goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

But normal service resumed against Sporting CP on Tuesday night, with Raya resuming his spot in the Arsenal tarting XI — and it took all of six minutes for the Spaniard to showcase his undeniable quality.

An unbelievable pass with the outside of his boot from Ousmane Diomande, Sporting’s centre-back, split Arsenal wide open and played in Maximiliano Araujo, who, instead of snatching at the ball, set himself before striking it with his left foot on the edge of the Arsenal box.

Raya makes a superb save to tip the ball onto the bar (Glyn Kirk / AFP via Getty Images)

His shot appeared to hit the crossbar directly, but the slow-motion replay showed it was in fact Raya’s fingertips that pushed it onto the woodwork.

It was a tremendous stop. And Raya made another in the final 10 minutes that was almost as good, diving to prevent Geny Catamo’s header squeezing in at the near post.

Those saves were timely reminders of exactly what Arsenal had been missing in goal during their two cup competition defeats.

And Sheldon