Sporting CP 2-2 Arsenal: 3 talking points as Gunners stutter in Lisbon

Arsenal secured a 2-2 draw against Sporting CP in the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 clash that leaves it all to play for in the return leg.

As expected, Mikel Arteta made several changes from the side that came back to defeat Bournemouth as Matt Turner, Ben White, Jorginho, Jakub Kiwior (debut for the club), and Reiss Nelson all came into the starting XI.

It took Arsenal 20 minutes to take the lead. William Saliba met a whipped-in corner from Fabio Vieira and headed home to put the Gunners in front. Sporting grabbed their equaliser from a corner kick just 15 minutes later as Goncalo Inacio rose unmarked to head home.

The first half faded out as both sides seemed content going in level.

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1633915905280286725?s=20

Arsenal started the brighter of the two sides in the second half, but it was the hosts who took the lead. After some intricate work, Turner was forced into a save, but the rebound found Paulinho, who tapped home from close range.

Arsenal found themselves level in an odd way. Granit Xhaka was looking to find Gabriel Martinelli but Hidemasa Morita got in the way, and the ball found its way past the keeper and into the net.

Neither side could find a winner, and the 2-2 draw means it is all to play for at the Emirates in the return leg.

Sporting CP 2-2 Arsenal: 3 talking points as Gunners stutter in Lisbon

The game provided plenty of talking points, here they are.

1. Fabio Vieira shows out

The Portuguese midfielder produced one of his finer games in an Arsenal shirt. He grabbed an assist for the Gunners’ opener and constantly pulled the strings in the midfield.

The midfielder did his chances of more starts under Mikel Arteta no harm and looks like he is slowly coming to grips with the Arsenal system and is beginning to flourish.

Not the finished product by any means, but it was undoubtedly a positive evening for Vieira.

Continued on the next slide…