46 min: Twenty seconds elapse before referee Damir Skomina shows Holding a yellow card, apparently for a high elbow in an aerial challenge. Replays show that to be a nonsense, he won the ball and didn’t touch Montero with his elbow.
Peeeeeeeeep! We’re underway again in Lisbon.
Arsenal have never won in Portugal in six attempts but their recent winning run has included a lot of second half goals. More hot stats, as and when you need them.
Half-time reading: get your eyes round this.
I’ve watched better halves of football. Sporting have probably edged it.
45 min: Sporting’s right back, Ristovski, looks as though he’s got a problem. He’s hobbling off. Bruno Gaspar is readying himself to come on, but Sporting are having to play with 10 men for now.
One minute added on here.
44 min: Nani gets to the byline, tries a couple of stepovers but Holding is having none of it, and toes the ball out for a corner.
43 min: More bad news for Celtic at RB Leipzig. They are now 2-0 down, Bruma (formerly of Sporting) with the strike.
41 min: Have to say that Sporting’s fans have been absolutely magnificent. They haven’t stopped singing. Haven’t heard a peep out of the travelling Arsenal faithful, who are stuck behind a black net in a far-flung corner of the ground.
39 min: Yellow card for Acuna, who sort-of-slips on the greasy surface and slides into the ankle of Lichtsteiner. It was actually quite a nasty challenge but not sure that he meant it. Yellow seems to be the right decision.
37 min: Now it is Arsenal who break down their left wing. Welbeck has the legs on Coates, but his touch is heavy and he runs out of room at the byline. Coates just about hacks it away.
35 min: Acuna has probably been Sporting’s best player down their left flank, he nutmegs Lichtsteiner and releases Montero, who crosses to nobody. Still, nice play from the Argentinian international.
34 min: In the other early kick-off, Celtic are 1-0 down at RB Leipzig, with Matheus Cunha getting the goal for the German side. AC Milan are also 1-0 down at home to Real Betis. You can check in on all the latest scores right here.
32 min: A nightmare couple of minutes for Sokratis! He tries to flick a long ball back to Leno, but misses his header and then drags Montero down. Sokratis was the last man for Arsenal, but the referee gives nothing! Replays show that Montero did go to ground easily, but the Greek defender definitely had hold of the striker’s shirt. That could well have been a red card.
31 min: Arsenal try to play their way out from the back, but Sokratis passes the pass straight to Nani, who cuts inside and unloads from 25 yards, just over Leno’s bar! That was travelling!
29 min: The ball bounces awkwardly in front of Xhaka, who panics 30 yards from his own goal and punts the ball out for a Sporting corner. Weird.
27 min: An excellent switch from Guendouzi releases Mkhitaryan down the right. The Armenian has time and space to canter into the Sporting box, but his cross is cut out by a retreating Nani. Poor delivery there, Arsenal had plenty of personnel in the box.
25 min: Arsenal may have lacked fluidity in these opening 25 minutes, but Rob Holding has been imperious at the back. He’s made several crunching tackles and important interceptions, the latest a header away from a good cross from Sporting’s left.
23 min: Emery takes a tumble, felled by Coates clumsily. It was about 0.00056cm outside of Sporting’s penalty box. Free kick to Arsenal wide on the left, Mkhitaryan over it … punched away by Ribeiro! Good goalkeeping, that only just cleared Battaglia head and was awkward for the Brazilian stopper.
20 min: Gudelj has a bit of Sergej Milinković-Savić about him. Tall, strong, mobile, also Serbian.
18 min: Mkhitaryan has had an awkward opening few minutes. He gives the ball away deep in his own half, and Acuna no nearly finds Gudelj in on goal with a cute lofted pass, but it’s just too far in front of the Serbian.
16 min: Nani has just switched to the right flank and completely unnecessarily controlled the ball with his shoulder. I’ve missed Nani.
14 min: Lichtsteiner is doing well to get forward down Arsenal’s right, which is a good thing as Mkhitaryan isn’t the most natural winger. He sends in a deflected cross which almost catches Sebastian Coates (formerly of Liverpool and Sunderland) out, but in the end the Uruguayan clears.
12 min: You’ll be pleased to hear the stadium is nearly full now. The football ain’t great form either side, though, at the moment.
10 min: A poor challenge by Xhaka on Sporting’s playmaker, Bruno Fernandes. Lucky not to get a yellow, there.
8 min: It’s been a slow start from Arsenal from Arsenal’s point of view. Sporting have packed their midfield and aren’t allowing Ramsey and Elneny any time of space to play through them.
6 min: Acuna ghosts past both Mkhitaryan and Lichtsteiner and gets to the byline but Holding is there at the near post to cut out the cross. Poor defending. Looks like Nani will set up on the left wing tonight for Sporting. Could be a long night for Lichtsteiner.
4 min: Guezdouzi wins a free kick. I’m interested to see the Frenchman in action tonight. After starting the season as Emery’s preferred central midfielder but has lost his place to Torreira of late, in the league at least.
Ozil called him the best young player at the club, in a recent Twitter Q&A.
2 min: Early corner for Sporting, taken by Acuna, Sporting’s left back. He’s wearing No 9! At left-back! The game has officially gone.
The corner is easily cleared.
1 min: Arsenal are indeed playing a 4-3-3, with Xhaka and Lichtsteiner in the full-back positions.
Peeeeeeeeeeeep! And we’re underway.
The players emerge from the tunnel: Nani is Sporting captain for the night. He hasn’t played since a substitute appearance over two weeks ago, but this is exactly the sort of night you would expect him to turn it on. Aaron Ramsey is Arsenal’s captain for the evening.
The stadium is only two-third full at present, which is probably due to this preposterous kick-off time (Lisbon working hours also run until 7pm). There was also a peaceful workers’ union demonstration against the government earlier in Lisbon today.
Let’s unpack tonight’s teams a little then. By no means Arsenal’s strongest XI, but not far off it, and they have plenty of firepower on the bench. Emery will have one eye on Sunday’s visit to Crystal Palace and will hope that he doesn’t need to call on Ozil, Lacazette and Torreira, who has been excellent in midfield of late. A start instead for
“It suggests Arsenal will be playing a 3-4-1-2 which doesn’t seem right to me, seeing how they have lined up in the past few games,” emails Simon Thomas. “More likely Xhaka is at left back which is a bit of a surprise, even if he did finish there against Leicester (and actually played very well there – although that was partly due to the fact that Leicester stopped attacking down their right).”
Hmmm, Uefa have it as a straight 4-3-3, with Xhaka at left-back and Lichtsteiner at right back, and Mkhitaryan and Welbeck as right/left wing respectively. That seems more likely to me.
Some breaking news for you. A penny for Mick McCarthy’s thoughts.
On my way to Guardian Towers (sadly not in Lisbon), I cycle past the Emirates Stadium. I guess this is the sort of thing that happens when Arsenal go on a 10-game winnings streak …
Sporting: Ribeiro; Ristovski, Coates, André Pinto, Acuña; Petrovic, Gudelj; Battaglia; Bruno Fernandes, Nani, Montero. Subs: Salin, Bruno Gaspar, Mathieu, Miguel Luís, Mané, Diaby, Jovane.
Arsenal: Leno; Lichtsteiner, Sokratis, Holding; Xhaka, Guendouzi, Elneny, Ramsey; Mkhitaryan; Welbeck, Aubameyang. Subs: Martinez, Jenkinson, Mustafi, Torreira, Iwobi, Özil, Lacazette.
Referee: Damir Skomina (SVN).
When the draw was made for the Europa League, this is the fixture that Arsenal fans will be been most excited about. There are few European trips better than an away day in Lisbon, the food, drinks (PARK Bar is particularly good for anybody that likes a view) and people make it an easy place to spend a Thursday afternoon. It’s 24°C there right now, you might as well stay for the weekend.
But Arsenal aren’t there for a holiday. In fact, Unai Emery is taking this very seriously, and has brought a full squad. Emery won three straight Europa League titles with Sevilla and with the added bonus on a Champions League place to the winner of this competition, he could see this as an easier route back to the top table than a top-four finish in the Premier League. With Arsenal and Sporting are sitting pretty at the top of Group E after two wins from two, you suspect that if the Gunners can triumph tonight, they will win the group and get an easier draw for the knock-out stage.
Despite the fact that Sporting are haven’t won a league title since 2002 – the halcyon days of Mario Jardel and um, Phil Babb – and that they are still recovering from a summer of chaos, this still feels like a Champions League tie tonight.
After the training ground farce at the end of last season in which players were attacked by people claiming to be fans of the club, Sporting are in a period of transition. Big names like Gelson Martins, William Carvalho left and Rui Patricio in the summer, but a core remains. Bas Dost is back in training, Nani is back at the club where he started his career and Bruno Fernandes remains the heartbeat of the side in midfield. Watch out for Fredy Montero, too: the former MLS star has been in great form of late. Make no mistake, the Estádio José Alvalade will be rocking.
Kick off: a quirky 5.55pm (in both Lisbon and London)