Arsenal predicted lineup vs Sporting CP - Europa League
By Sean Walsh
Arsenal resume their UEFA Europa League campaign with a last 16 tie against Sporting CP.
With a decent-sized lead in the Premier League title race, Mikel Arteta is not expected to throw all of his eggs into the European glory basket for the rest of this season.
The Gunners travel to Lisbon on Thursday to face a Sporting side who took four points from a possible six off of Tottenham in their ultimately unsuccessful Champions League group stage campaign earlier this season.
Here's the XI Arteta could field at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.
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Arsenal predicted lineup vs Sporting CP
GK: Matt Turner - The American has been a reliable deputy to Aaron Ramsdale and has put in some good performances in this competition already this season.
RB: Takehiro Tomiyasu - Withdrawn at half-time of Saturday's comeback win against Bournemouth after a shocking first 45 minutes, but for the sake of Ben White's fitness, he has to start again here.
CB: Rob Holding - A game that Arsenal could do without winning? Begin the thawing of Rob Holding.
CB: Jakub Kiwior - Yet to play a single minute for the Gunners since his January move from Spezia, but this is a perfect opportunity for the Polish defender to make his debut.
LB: Kieran Tierney - Heavily linked with a move to Newcastle after falling behind Oleksandr Zinchenko in the pecking order.
CM: Jorginho - A revelation of sorts since arriving at Arsenal. What a weird sentence.
CM: Fabio Vieira - Hasn't had too many look-ins during his debut season at Arsenal, but is likely to start on home soil.
CM: Granit Xhaka - Well, at least Arsenal have one midfielder who never gets injured.
RW: Reiss Nelson - Bukayo Saka should be as far away from this Europa League campaign as possible, while this also doubles as a chance for new hero Reiss Nelson to stake further claims for a new contract.
CF: Gabriel Martinelli - With all three of Arsenal's primary centre-forward options injured, Arteta may have no choice but to start Gabriel Martinelli through the middle.
LW: Emile Smith Rowe - Finally fit again after a horror season battling injuries. Came on as a substitute and then brought off again on Saturday in order to ease him back into the fold.
On this edition of The Chronicles of a Gooner, part of the 90min podcast network, Harry Symeou discusses the FA's decision to investigate Arsenal's celebrations in the win over Bournemouth.
If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!