Arsenal are one step ahead of Sporting CP in the fight for a place in the UEFA Champions League semifinals and they must complete the task later today.
Arsenal cannot afford to lose to Sporting at the Emirates, especially given that they hold a one-goal advantage. Apart from their win over Sporting last week, the Gunners have love three of their last four games.
The most demoralizing of all the losses of the losses is the 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth at the weekend. With City now six points behind them in the Premier League table, the title could easily slip from Arsenal’s hands.
While fans are battling with that fear, the quadruple could easily become a single or they could well go trophyless if Sporting are able to knock them out the competition, a reality they must now avoid.
🔴 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛𝘿𝘼𝙔 ⚪️
🆚 Sporting CP
🕗 8pm (UK)
🏆 UEFA Champions League
🏟️ Arsenal Stadium pic.twitter.com/jlAsGQk1o5— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 15, 2026
Ahead of the game, Arteta has said he is ready and feels nothing but fire. In his pre-match conference, he said: “It’s the second time that we are three years in a row in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. For other clubs, that’s the daily meal. For us, no. So we value a lot where we are.
“We have the opportunity tomorrow to go to the semi-finals. We are competing to win the Premier League and we are in a really strong position after 22 years without doing it. So we know the difficulty of that, but the beauty of it is that it’s difficult, that it’s challenging and that’s why we are so willing to do it.”
Forward as one ✊ pic.twitter.com/0XkuohQ270
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 15, 2026
Team News
Declan Rice was absent from Arsenal’s open training session and will need to be assessed before kickoff to see if he will participate in the game. Timber and Saka are out while Calafiori and Odegaard are nursing their way back to fitness.
Sporting, on the other hand, can rely on Morten Hjulmand after he missed the first leg through suspension, while Chelsea-bound winger Geovany Quenda made his return from four months out with a foot injury on the weekend. They could however, be without Ivan Fresneda, who came off at half-time on Sunday with a knock.
Arsenal vs Sporting Predicted XI
Arsenal Predicted XI
Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Norgaard, Rice; Madueke, Eze, Trossard; Gyokeres
Sporting Predicted XI
Silva; Vagiannidis, Diomande, Inacio, Araujo; Braganca, Hjulmand; Catamo, Trincao, Goncalves; Suarez
