Morning all.
There’s been so much talk about Arsenal’s form since our trip to Dubai, and domestically we’ve been nigh on perfect. Who can argue with eight successive wins and scoring a load of goals that sit you on top of the Premier League table?
The only blip in that period was the 1-0 defeat away at Porto, a result and a performance that we have to put right tonight. This is a club that has made huge progress in recent years, but the next step is going toe to toe with the big boys in Europe, and in order to do that we’ll have to overturn that deficit against tricky opposition later on.
I suspect we’ll see a couple of changes from the side that played in Portugal. I expect Jorginho to start in midfield. His experience in this competition could be important, not to mention how his presence in the middle allows Declan Rice to play higher up, and we spoke already this week about the goal contributions he’s been making. The latest, of course, was the opener against Brentford.
With Gabriel Martinelli ruled out because of a deep cut on his foot, there’s a decision to be made for his position. Arteta could stick with Leandro Trossard after playing him on Saturday, but if Gabriel Jesus is fit enough to start, I’d be very tempted to go with him on the left hand side. Like Jorginho, he has ton of Champions League experience, and while his goalscoring in the Premier League can be improved, there’s something about this competition that brings that aspect of his game to life.
This season, in five appearances (323 minutes), he has four goals and two assists, and his ability to produce in Europe is something I would be keen to see – assuming he’s ready to go from the off. The form of Kai Havertz means he should keep his place as the nominal centre-forward, and while Jesus doesn’t often play wide for us, this isn’t a case of taking him out of his comfort zone by any means. In Oleksandr Zinchenko and Thomas Partey, there are two more players with plenty of CL experience on the bench if needed, and Trossard as one of the first subs should we need to make changes gives the manager options from the bench.
As for Porto, expect more of the same. They disrupted us very well in the first leg, perhaps aided by a referee who fell for every little trick they pulled, but that’s part of our challenge this evening. Some might not like it, but European football is a different animal than the Premier League, and the learning curve is steep. Speaking yesterday, Martin Odegaard said:
We didn’t play our best game last time against Porto. We’ve looked at it and we know what we have to do differently. There is plenty of motivation to come back and show a different side.
While Mikel Arteta said:
We’re certainly going to have to tweak a few things to generate much more than what we did against them. It’s the level of the Champions League; you’re facing top teams, the fact that there are two games as well plays on your mind and we’re going to have to be better tomorrow.
As you’d expect, Arteta is seeking every bit of motivation he can find. After the first leg, Porto boss Sergio Conceicao made comments about how Arsenal had just come to play, but his team were out to win. I don’t know how aware he is of how the Arsenal boss might view something like that, but we all do. Asked for his interpretation of those comments at his press conference yesterday, Mikel said, straight-faced:
There is no interpretation, those are strong words.
That is exactly the kind of stuff he will use in the build-up to this one. Maybe Conceicao didn’t mean them to sound as patronising or dismissive as they did, but maybe too he let his guard down a bit in the wake of the late win. Arteta and his players will want to respond tonight, not with words, but with what they do on the pitch.
Then there’s the role of the fans in the stadium tonight. Arteta says:
I think the impact they can make tomorrow is incredible. I don’t think that they really realise so we need that noise and we need them playing every single ball with us. For 96 minutes bring your energy, bring your noise and let’s do it together.
It felt to me like a lot of decisions Porto got last time were ‘home’ decisions, and that’s something the Arsenal fans can counter tonight. There will be zero tolerance from the stands for any of their antics tonight, and that can have an impact on how a game is refereed. Plus the sheer level of support and backing of the team for 90 minutes could be a real positive for the team.
It’s going to be a tough night, because Porto are a decent side, and knock-out football brings with it its own pressures. But, if we want to become the team we all aspire to, these are the nights we have to make the most of, and fingers crossed we can produce the performance and the end-product required to see us through.
As ever, you can follow the game with us on the live blog, we’ll have all the post-game stuff on Arseblog News, and we have a preview podcast available on Patreon right now too.
For now, take it easy, and come on you reds!
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