Not for the faint hearted and certainly not for the purists, but Arsenal got over the line in Lisbon in stoppage time to take a precious lead back to The Emirates for the return leg next week.
The game seemed certain to end in a draw, which to be honest I was fairly happy with, given how we have been playing recently and after hearing how formidable this Sporting side had been at home this season. Kai Havertz however, had other ideas. The German ghosted into the box to latch onto a brilliant Gabriel Martinelli chipped pass to side foot past the Sporting keeper in the 91st minute to help Arsenal return to winning ways in a huge match, at the start of a huge week for the club. It wasn’t pretty, as Arsenal struggled to break down a resolute and well organised Sporting side and had to dig keep at times, especially early on, when the Portugese side threatened and David Raya intervened superbly on 7 minutes to deny Maximiliano Araújo. In the end though, Arsenal did enough to win the game and that’s all I really care about right now!
Here’s how the players rated:
David Raya – 9 PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Showed why he is the undisputed number one for Arsenal and why he should start key games for this football club. A good all round commanding performance, with good passing, book-ended by one great save at the start of the game and two really good ones at the end. Hard to measure, but the mind boggles when I think of where we would be this season without Raya’s unbelievable saves in key moments of games. He’s become an absolute colossus for Arsenal this season.
Ben White – 6
A marked improvement from the Southampton game (which wasn’t difficult to be fair!), but White did struggle with Araujo at times and offered very little going forward. When’s Jurrien Timber back?!
William Saliba – 8
Standardly immense. Left the dangerous Luis Suarez with little more than scraps to feed on, as he completely shut him down time after time. Decent on the ball and was always looking to play it forward.
Gabriel – 7
Commanding, if a little nervy at times. Another who was much improved from the Southampton game. Defended the space left by the marauding Calafiori well and never seemed overly troubled when defending one on one.
Riccardo Calafiori – 6
Still not quite hitting the heights of his early season form, but a decent showing from the Italian. Popped up all over the pitch as normal, without really effecting the game. Dived in late on, as he let Luis Suarez nip past him, which thankfully came to nothing.
Martin Zubimendi – 7
Better, but we still need more. Quite safe with his passing at times and struggled to break through the lines. Took his ‘goal’ really well, before the anti-football machine VAR intervened and ruined everyone’s fun.
Declan Rice – 8
Was everywhere on the night. Snuffing out dangerous attacks all over the pitch and generally just did what Declan Rice does and helped Arsenal win and retain possession to start attacks. I’d really like to see him drive with the ball a bit more though. Definitely better in the second half than the first, as he played with a bit more freedom.
Martin Odegaard – 6
Decent display from the returning skipper, who is still building up his match fitness. Seemed most likely to prise open the Sporting defence and had a few pot shots which were comfortable for Sporting in all fairness. A step in the right direction, as he looks to return to the talismanic figure that we know he can be.
Noni Madueke – 6
Blew hot and cold, as usual. Didn’t breeze passed the lively Aurajo many times, but he always looked to cause him problems and won a number of free kicks in key areas, as Aurajo just kicked whoever he wanted all evening without reproach.
Viktor Gyokeres – 5
Just never got into the game. It nearly completely passed him by, until he took a lovely touch to help fashion the Zubimendi disallowed goal, which ultimately counted for nothing as he was lazily caught well offside. I don’t think Sporting are regretting selling him on this showing. Must do more!
Leandro Trossard – 5
Another who was on the periphery for large parts of the contest. Had a spell in the second half where he seemed to find a foothold in the game and started to get on the ball more, which led to a really disappointing shot, after he’d worked an excellent opening for himself. Just doesn’t seem the same player as pre-Christmas Trossard.
Subs:
Kai Havertz – 8 – In all honesty, he didn’t do a great lot, but that touch and finish (also the beautiful run!!) were absolutely first class and deserving of an 8 alone. Absolutely ice cold. Brilliant contribution.
Gabriel Martinelli – 8 – If Havertz is an 8, then Martinelli has to be as well. Brilliant run and pass for the goal and he did actually look to make things happen whenever he was on the ball. I kept expecting him to pass the ball off, when he picked up the ball on the left wing in the 90th minute, as that’s what we had been seeing from everyone all evening, but Martinelli carried the ball brilliantly to create the chance for Havertz and basically showed everyone what they should have been doing all evening! Absolutely loves the Champions League.
Max Dowman – 6 – Let others have the limelight for a change, which was nice of him. Another who seemed to struggle up against Aurajo, but again, won a number of fouls which went unpunished.
Final note – What a relief to get back to winning ways. Hopefully this will prove to be a catalyst, or at least a start of something really special, as we enter the really key part of the season. Buckle up Gooners, I doubt it’s going to be a smooth ride, but as long as we get where we need to be, I’ll be a happy Gooner come the end of the season.