Sporting Lisbon 1-1 Arsenal LIVE: Goncalo Inacio heads hosts level amid questionable defending from Matt Turner and Jakub Kiwior after William Saliba gave Gunners lead in Portugal
Follow Sportsmail’s live blog for the Europa League round of 16 first-leg clash between Sporting Lisbon and Arsenal, including updates from AEK Larnaca vs West Ham in the Europa Conference League.
Host commentator
The Hammers take the lead!
Michail Antonio puts them ahead, with Said Benrahma bagging the assist.
It’s all square!
Poor defending from Arsenal in truth. Another corner comes in, and no one in the Gunners defence takes control.
Inacio rises unmarked and heads it in comfortably, with Turner in no man’s land.
Disappointing from Arsenal, and the home crowd are up now.
The home side win the ball up the pitch after some tentative defending and move it nicely between the back four around the box.
It comes to nothing, but that was loose from Arsenal.
The Arsenal man looks to be in some discomfort on the pitch.
It seems like he’ll carry on, but an injury for the Ukrainian could have huge consequences for the rest of the season.
Arsenal wina free kick just outside the box.
It’s worked back to Zinchenko, who hits it really well but straight down the middle, and Adan palms it over with relative comfort.
Arsenal on top.
Saliba heads Arsenal in front!
Brilliant corner from Vieira as he whips it in towards Saliba, who heads it nicely into the back of the net.
There’s a bit of afters following the goal as Zinchenko and Xhaka clash with some of the home players that results on Coates being booked.
Excellent start from the Gunners, and the Saliba song rings around Lisbon.
Arteta’s men are holding on to the ball well up the pitch and keeping the pressure on Sporting.
They haven’t forced a chance but are looking more in control as they pass the ball around the home side’s box.
Jorginho has tried to be positive in a deep play making role but has struggled to execute his ambitious diangonal passes so far.
The home side have looked better than the Gunners in the past few minutes and got on the front foot more.
Arsenal’s defence has coped well so far but they’ll want to get the ball up the end of the pitch more often.
Vieira had a nice run down the middle on his return to Portugal but could not find Martinelli at the end.
Arteta uses a break in play to give his side a quick team talk after a slightly flat start.
First real chance of the game.
Goncalves catches Jorginho out and breaks down the left. He cuts in to the box and curls a shot but it’s wide of the post.
An early warning from the home side.
Arsenal have looked to take control in the opening minutes, passing the ball slowly in possession and pressing nicely without it.
Lisbon have dealt with them well so far and caused a frantic clearance from Ben White after a loose ball between the two Arsenal centre backs.
We’re underway in Portugal!
The visitors kick off first.
We’re closing in on kick off in Lisbon.
A big game for a changes Arsenal team that have talked up a potential European double.
Mikel Arteta on BT Sport: ‘We’ve prepared very well and we’ll try to win the game against a very tough opponent.’
‘They made a lot of people happy on Sunday. It’s our aim [to fight on two fronts], we have to try and win it.’
‘We made six changes because we have to adapt, we have a good squad. I have full confidence in my players.’
Gabriel Martinelli speaking to BT Sport on the Bournemouth result: ‘It was a great win, a great goal from Reiss, so happy for him.’
‘We need to keep going. The work we are doing is going to help us. We go into every single game with the winning mentality. We want to win the title.
‘We know our qualities and we know we can do it. I love this football club. When you play for Arsenal you need to go into every competition trying to win it.’
Reiss Nelson has had a mixed career at Arsenal to date, but wrote his name into the Gunners history books with a 97th minute winner against Bournemouth last weekend.
He starts tonight in a well-earned nod of recognition from Mikel Arteta.
🔰 𝐗𝐈#UECL #AEKWESTHAM #RoundOf16 pic.twitter.com/w6pBahS0Ve
Your European Hammers ⚒️ pic.twitter.com/kMA7wMhTn7
The players have arrived in Lisbon ahead of kick-off at 5:45.
Arsenal’s main priority may be the league, but they will be keen to keep momentum going this evening.
The highly-rated Pedro Gonclaves starts after bagging 16 goals so far this season.
Sebastian Coates captains the side six years after playing his last game in England for Sunderland.
Here’s our 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙓𝙄 #SportingCP #SCPARS pic.twitter.com/iLZrIu0dWS
American keeper Matt Turner returns after impressing in the group stage, while the likes of Partey, Ramsdale and Gabriel drop to the bench.
Martinelli and Saka both start while Kwior makes his debut.
🔴 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 ⚪️
🧤Turner between the sticks
🆕 Kiwior makes his debut
🖊️ Martinelli in attack
Let's do this – together! 👊 pic.twitter.com/3caK8GbWbB
Arsenal could face a number of ex-Premier League players tonight, including their old right back Hector Bellerin.
Here, Oli Gamp runs through the players Arteta’s men could be up against
The Gunners have been flying this season and currently sit five points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
They were excellent in the group stage, winning five of their six games, but it will be interesting to see how strong a team Mikel Arteta picks this evening with the league approaching its final stages.
Sporting, meanwhile, sit fourth in the league, already 15 points of rivals Benfica.
After the Eagles reached the Champions League quarter finals by beating Club Bruges on Tuesday, Sporting fans will be hoping they can pull off a similar feat tonight.
And welcome to Sportsmail’s coverage of Sporting Lisbon vs Arsenal.
We’ll have all the news and updates ahead of kick off at 17:45, as well as the latest from West Ham’s Europa Conference League clash with AEK Larnaca.
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