Arsenal vs Sporting CP: Complete head-to-head record

Arsenal have discovered their opponents for their 2022/23 Europa League last 16 as they prepare to fight on domestic and continental fronts.

The Gunners have been paired with Portuguese outfit Sporting CP, who dropped out of the Champions League but comfortably came through their knockout playoff with Midtjylland to reach the last 16.

The two teams aren't overly familiar but have played each other in Europe on previous occasions. The stats make for good reading for Arsenal fans, too.

Arsenal vs Sporting CP H2H record

Arsenal and Sporting CP have battled it out in Europe on four occasions previously. The Gunners are yet to taste defeat against the Lisbon outfit.

Their most recent meetings came in 2018 as the two clubs were paired together in the group stages of that season's Europa League.

Arsenal went to Portugal and recorded a 1-0 win thanks to Danny Welbeck to extend their unbeaten record at the time to 11 games in all competitions. The striker was stretchered off with a serious ankle injury in the return fixture which ended goalless.

• 2022/23 Europa League last 16 draw: Man Utd, Arsenal & Juventus learn opponents
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Their first competitive meetings came in the 1969/70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Arsenal were one of best teams in Europe at the time - they would win the First Division title in 1970/71 - and had beaten Glentoran in the first round. Sporting had disposed of LASK to reach the second round.

The first game ended goalless in Portugal before the Gunners ran out 3-0 aggregate victors thanks to a convincing win at Highbury in the return leg.

Arsenal would go on to beat Rouen, Dinamo Bacau, Ajax and finally Anderlecht in the final to win their first European trophy.

• 29/10/1969 - Sporting Lisboa 0-0 Arsenal - Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
• 26/11/1969 - Arsenal 3-0 Sporting Lisboa - Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
• 25/10/2018 - Sporting CP 0-1 Arsenal - Europa League
• 08/11/2018 - Arsenal 0-0 Sporting CP - Europa League

Arsenal vs Sporting CP H2H

• Arsenal wins: 2
• Sporting CP wins: 0
• Draws: 2

Arsenal vs Sporting CP H2H in Europa League knockout stage

While Arsenal and Sporting have squared off in the Europa League group stages as recently as 2018, they are yet to contest a knockout tie in the competition.

However, they did compete over two legs in the second round of the 1969/70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, a competition Arsenal would win thanks to a 4-3 aggregate victory over Anderlecht in the final.

• 09/03/23 - Round of 16 first leg: Sporting CP vs Arsenal
• 16/03/23 - Round of 16 second leg: Arsenal vs Sporting CP

Top scorers in Arsenal vs Sporting CP fixtures

Only four goals have been scored in the four games between Arsenal and Sporting CP to date.

Half of those are claimed by George Graham, the former Gunners boss who made over 300 appearances for the club as a player. Graham grabbed a brace in the 3-0 home victory in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup after John Radford had opened the scoring.

Danny Welbeck is the most recent goalscorer in this fixture. He managed the only effort of the night in a 1-0 Arsenal win in 2018. Unai Emery's starting XI that day included Granit Xhaka at left-back, Matteo Guendouzi and Aaron Ramsey in midfield and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in attack.