Arsenal’s past few matches have seen them catch fire in front of goal. Sheffield United were powerless to stop the Gunners in a recent Premier League encounter and that came after a 4-1 triumph against Newcastle. Before that 1-0 defeat at Porto, there had previously been six goals scored at West Ham and five were put past Burnley.
However, the London outfit were unable to get any shots on target when in Portugal for the first leg of this Champions League last sixteen encounter. They had the lion’s share of possession but failed to break down a team who stuck to a pragmatic game plan, with Mikel Arteta cutting a frustrated figure at the final whistle.
While Arsenal are making hay in their bid to land the Premier League title this season, this is a different kind of assignment in the Champions League. They will certainly want to avoid any defensive errors considering that the concession of a goal would leave them needing to score three times although confidence will be high at the Emirates.
As for Porto, they were able to enjoy a 5-0 hammering of Benfica and this isn’t a team that suffers too many defeats. However, there was a reverse when losing at Sporting in mid-December along with a loss away to Arouca more recently. Sergio Conceicao’s side will have to be foot perfect defensively if they are to stand any chance of going through.