UEFA Europa League 2018/19: Arsenal vs Sporting Lisbon

After an intensive game that ended up with a draw with Liverpool (1-1), The Arsenal took one point from its Europa League game against Sporting Lisbon too. The Londoners had their opportunities but somehow didn’t take advantage of them. Danny Welbeck’s horrible ankle injury in the 30^th minute surely affected the players as they immediately realised it’s a serious one and that’s going to keep him out of the game for a long time.

The Arsenal completely dominated over Sporting and was the more creative team but with only two shots on target out of 14 attempts they didn’t find the goal and that resulted in a goalless draw (0-0).

Clear domination

The Arsenal totally dominated, and it could be seen even by the game’s statistics. The team completed 555 accurate passes, compared to only 190 by Sporting. They had a better accuracy in almost every indicator and won a whole 41 duels – 12 more than their opponents. As I mentioned the team didn’t have the perfect finish, but it outscored the Portuguese with 14 total shots, although only two of them were on target. Both teams couldn’t provide a lot of accurate crosses which resulted in missing their opportunities.

Emery surprised again 

Unai Emery proved that he is unpredictable when it comes to starting XI. It all started with the goalkeeper as Petr Cech returned from injury and started against Sporting. In front of him, Unai gave a chance to Carl Jenkinson on the left-back, who played his first game for Arsenal this term. The guy actually put some solid performance and proved that he could be an option in moments of crisis on the left. He won 2/3 of his duels, made one clearance, two interceptions, made one key pass and had 92% passing accuracy for 60 minutes on the pitch.