Arsenal's biggest winner against Sporting was crystal clear, and it matters

Despite all the recent doom and gloom, Arsenal are through to a Champions League semi-final for only the fourth time in their entire history. Wednesday's goalless draw with Sporting is unlikely to live long in the memory, and offered quite the contrast to the seven goal thriller served up in Bavaria simultaneously. In fact, the combined xG figure of 0.93 is the lowest across all 184 fixtures played in Europe's premier club competition thus far.

However, it was a crucial night for numerous reasons, including helping restore the confidence of Martín Zubimendi. The Spaniard was in high spirits as he was presented with the UEFA man of the match trophy, with his team mates equally delighted for him, after an impressive showing.

Martin Zubimendi was Arsenal's MVP

Zubimendi ranked very highly when it came to pretty much every metric during Wednesday's goalless draw. He won all six duels he contested, while only Morten Hjulmand, Gonçalo Inácio and Declan Rice touched the ball with greater frequency.

So, why does this matter? Well, at the weekend, as Mikel Arteta's team were catastrophically beaten by Bournemouth, Zubimendi put in arguably his worst performance since joining last summer.

At times during that match, it appeared as though he was being consoled by team mates, hence why many were suggesting it might be best to temporarily take him out of the firing line. However, with Mikel Merino still sidelined and Rice struggling with illness earlier in the week, that simply was not an option.

Still top of the Premier League and now through to the Champions League semi-finals, if Arsenal are going to land either of the biggest trophies up for grabs, they will need Zubimendi to rediscover the form he showed earlier in the campaign. The 27 year old took his tally to 3,842 club minutes against Sporting, the most of any Arsenal outfielder this season, only less than half an hour fewer than David Raya.

Given that Arsenal have eight or possibly nine fixtures remaining this season, Zubimendi is very much on course to surpass his highest-ever minutes total in a single campaign. He could even getting as high as 4,652 minutes, which would represent around 11 hours more football than the last campaign, his previous most. The defensive midfielder is very much feeling the effects of wear and tear, seemingly suffering something of a crisis of confidence in recent weeks.

Thus, Arteta and Arsenal fans everywhere will hope his display against Sporting represents a turning point, with Sunday's crucial trip to the Etihad looming on the horizon.

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