Arsenal just had a very hard match against Sporing in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals. They have lost 2 consecutive domestic cup matches before that match. Having to be guests in Portugal also makes Mikel Arteta's team questioned a lot.
Finally, thanks to Kai Havertz's only goal in the last minute, The Gunners were able to breathe a sigh of relief before the match against Bournemouth this weekend in the Premier League.
Mikel Arteta in many matches has temporarily put aside his beautiful playing style to aim for pragmatism. This approach is appropriate in the current fierce competition context, but if Arsenal's pragmatic play is still not successful, the Spanish coach will be heavily criticized. In the recent match against Sporting, despite playing pragmatically, if there was no excellence of David Raya in goal, the result at Jose Alvalade would become a disaster for Arsenal.
Anyway, up to this point, Arsenal is still leading the Premier League and has a great chance to enter the Champions League semi-finals. Sporting is the team that is underestimated in the quarter-finals, but that does not mean that Arsenal's victory is denied in importance. Remember that at home this season, Sporting is playing very well. They have won 17 consecutive matches in all competitions, scoring 53 goals, conceding only 8 goals. The Portuguese team has defeated Paris Saint-Germain, Porto and Marseille. Sporting has also won all 5 home matches in this season's Champions League, including a spectacular 5-0 comeback against Bodo/Glimt in the round of 16, after losing the first leg 0-3 in Norway.
Although they have won, Arsenal needs to show more diversity in attack. They must rotate the ball faster. If they cannot do this, the opponent in the semi-finals, whether Atletico Madrid or Barcelona, will completely overwhelm Arsenal in midfield.
Last season Arsenal reached the Champions League semi-finals, a very commendable achievement for The Gunners after many years of stopping early. This year, if they continue to surpass Sporting, the "Gunners" will have their 2nd consecutive season in the top 4 strongest teams.
Forget the performances that are not really "eye-catching", forget how they score and ignore the gossip. Arsenal's season will be defined entirely based on results. After 2 disappointing defeats against Man City and Southampton, Arsenal has lost the opportunity to win 2 domestic cups, even somewhat derailed, but this is still one of their best seasons.
After the defeat to Southampton, Mikel Arteta encouraged his players, wanting the team to focus on fighting for the remaining goals and forget about defeat. Finally, they did what many people were skeptical about, which was a victory against Sporting right on the away field at the time of most doubt about form.
This weekend, if they overcome Bournemouth, Arsenal will get closer to the Premier League title after 22 years of waiting. Now, every match is important to them and they need to show their bravery like they did against Sporting.
