Sporting Lisbon overcame Midtjylland 5-1 in a two-legged playoff tie, while Arsenal earned direct qualification to the round of 16 after finishing on top of Group A.
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Arsenal will hope to carry forward their impressive domestic form into the Europa League when they travel to Sporting Lisbon for a round-of-16 first-leg tie. The Thursday night contest might slightly be in favour of the English side due to the immense quality and depth in their squad. Besides, the form is also on Arsenal’s side since they have done impressively well to stay ahead of the chasing pack in the Premier League till now, which is not something many saw it coming.
Both teams took different route to reach this stage of the competition. Sporting Lisbon overcame Midtjylland 5-1 in a two-legged playoff tie, while Arsenal earned direct qualification to the round of 16 after finishing on top of Group A. Sporting can take a lot of comfort from the manner in which the previous round had unfolded. Following a 1-1 draw in the first leg, the Portuguese side registered a scintillating 4-0 victory to enter the last-16 round of the Europa League.
Sporting Lisbon were initially playing in the Champions League. But they were not able to progress from Group D, thereby dropping down to the Europa League playoff leg. In the Portuguese Primeira Liga table, Sporting are placed fourth with 47 points from 23 games. They are entering this game on the back of a narrow 1-0 win over Portimonense. On the other hand, Arsenal registered a thrilling comeback win over Bournemouth in their last match. They have 63 from 26 games to sit at the top of the Premier League table.
Read More – Sporting Lisbon vs Arsenal: Europa League Live Stream, Form Guide, Head to Head, Schedule, Fixture and Probable Lineups
These two clubs have been one of the heavyweights in their respective league. Arsenal have always been one of the teams to keep an eye out in the English top flight. The Gunners have often stayed in and around the top end of the table and have been a regular in European competitions. The same is the case with Sporting Lisbon in their respective league. However, this is not a competition both would want to be, as their primary target would be to play in the Champions League.
There have not been many matches that has happened between these two sides over the years. When it is narrowed down to Europa League then there has been a total of two games that has taken place between them. They were placed in the same group in the 2018-19 season of the Europa League. Arsenal won 1-0 in Portugal but were held to a goalless draw at the Emirates Stadium. With both games being so tight, it would be difficult to predict a winner from this two-legged tie starting from Thursday.
| Key Details | Stats |
|---|---|
| Total matches | 2 |
| Sporting Lisbon won | – |
| Arsenal won | 1 |
| Draws | 1 |
| Total Sporting Lisbon goals | 0 |
| Total Arsenal goals | 1 |
| Biggest Sporting Lisbon win | – |
| Biggest Arsenal win | 1-0 (2018) |
| Last 2 match-results | Score |
| Arsenal draw Sporting Lisbon | 0-0 |
| Arsenal beat Sporting Lisbon | 1-0 |
