The second set of UEFA Europa League group games kick off on Thursday night and some teams are already eyeing a place in the knockout rounds. Arsenal are one of those teams and they welcome Sporting Lisbon to the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal and Sporting Lisbon find themselves in Europa League Group E along with Vorskla Poltava and Qarabag. Arsenal start this match sitting top of the group with a maximum 9 points to their name while Sporting Lisbon are in second place.>
A win for Arsenal would see them secure qualification while a win for Sporting Lisbon would see them edge closer to the knockout stages so there is all to play for in this match.
Arsenal come into this game on the back of a 1-1 home draw with Liverpool in the Premier League. It was a strong performance from Arsenal and they were arguably the better team for large periods of the game. The draw mean Arsenal are undefeated in their last fourteen games in all competitions.
The Gunners have won seven and drawn one of their last eight home matches in all competitions. They have scored 2 or more goals in each of those seven wins and defeated Vorskla 4-2 in their only Europa League home game this season.
Trend show Arsenal are unbeaten in seven of their last eight home Europa League games and have won each of their last three matches in the competition.
Sporting Lisbon recorded a 2-1 win at Santa Clara on the weekend to keep in touch with the leaders at the top of the Portuguese Premier League. They sit in third place, 2 points behind Braga and Porto in the race for the title.
However, form has been inconsistent for Sporting Lisbon and they have won five and lost four of their last nine matches in all competitions. There have been wins over Maritimo, Loures, Boavista and Santa Clara in Portugal plus a victory over Vorskla in the Europa League.
Sporting Lisbon have won five of their seven competitive away matches this season, with one of those victories coming at Vorskla in the Europa League. Trends show there have been under 2.5 goals in six of their last seven Europa League games.
Looking ahead to the team news and Arsenal will be without Laurent Koscielny, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Mohamed Elneny and Carl Jenkinson who are injured. Sokratis may recover in time to play in central defence while Alex Iwobi, Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck will all be hoping to start.
Sporting Lisbon will travel without the injured trio of Stefan Ristovski, Stefano Sturaro and Raphinha. Bas Dost missed the previous game against Arsenal but has recovered and should start up-front in this match.
There is no doubt Arsenal are the favourites to win this game. The Gunners defeated Sporting Lisbon away from home and will feel confident of doing the same at the Emirates. Sporting Lisbon will look to keep it tight but expect to see a home win.