ARSENAL are set to begin their quest to achieve back to back semi final appearances for the first time ever this evening in the Champions League away in Lisbon.
The Gunners are unbeaten in all 10 of their games in Europe this season, including wins over Bayern, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan.
Despite the side from North London losing their two previous games away at Southampton and the League Cup final to Manchester City, they are still in the driving seat for the Premier League title with a nine point gap between them and second place.
Their opponents Sporting came into this season as back to back champions of Primeira Liga before their star man Viktor Gyokeres left to join Arsenal before the start of the season.
But his replacement Luis Suarez has been in great form for the Portuguese champions, scoring five goals in Europe’s elite competition this season, including a penalty in Sporting’s historic 5-0 win over Bodo Glimt which overturned a three goal deficit from the first leg.
They will be without their captain Morten Hjulmand due to a suspension, with wingers Geovany Quenda and Luis Guilherme also unavailable.
Arsenal will be without stars Jurrien Timber and Bukayo Saka joining Mikel Merino, Piero Hincapie and Eberechi Eze on the sidelines.
Sporting will look to get revenge on tonight’s opponent, with this fixture resulting in a 5-1 win for Arsenal last time around.
But the last time these two faced off in knockouts, Sporting ran out winners in the round of 16 in the Europa League, knocking Arsenal out 5-3 on penalties at the Emirates stadium after both fixtures resulted in draws (2-2 in Lisbon, 1-1 in London).
