Sporting Lisbon vs Arsenal – Betting Preview
Arsenal will resume their pursuit of an elusive continental title on Thursday night when they face Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 match.
The Gunners advanced as group winners to meet Ruben Amorim’s former Champions League contenders, who defeated FC Midtjylland 5-1 in the playoffs, in a matchup.
Sporting Lisbon Preview
Sporting’s attempts to beat Spurs and Eintracht Frankfurt to a top-two spot proved ineffective, and as a result they were forced to settle for a third-place finish and a place in Europe’s second-tier tournament.
Sporting were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their elimination round playoff match against Midtjylland thanks to a stoppage-time goal from Sebastian Coates, but they turned up the heat in Denmark and stormed to a 4-0 victory to qualify for the last-16 draw.
However, Sporting’s hopes of completing a domestic and European double are undoubtedly baseless since they now sit in fourth place in the Primeira Liga standings, 15 points behind undisputed leaders Benfica despite winning their past three games in the top division.
Arsenal Preview
In order to advance further in the knockout stage playoffs, Arsenal had to skip an additional two games. Despite a humiliating 2-0 loss to PSV Eindhoven, the Gunners nevertheless won Europa League Group A with 15 points out of a possible 18.
With 12 games left to play, Mikel Arteta’s young guns have held off Manchester City in the English Premier League since their last appearance in a continental match. However, without one of the most thrilling last-second goals the Emirates has ever seen, their unassailable lead would have been smaller.
In response to Bournemouth’s efforts by Philip Billing and Marcos Senesi, Arsenal rallied back through Thomas Partey and Ben White before academy product In the seventh minute of extra time, Reiss Nelson scored to excite the home crowd and secure an improbable 3-2 victory in yet another genuine test of the Gunners’ title credentials.
1×2 Betting Odds
Let’s begin analysing the 1×2 market
In normal conditions, Arsenal would undoubtedly benefit from Sporting being obliged to send in at least one inexperienced midfielder to fill in for sturdy Ugarte, but Arteta’s team’s chances are not that good due to a plethora of attacking injuries.
But yet, the market has deemed the home side to be the underdogs @ 3.62.
The odds of a win for Arsenal stands @ 2.27. They are the favourites despite of their many injuries.
Arsenal should avoid suffering the same fate as their rivals in North London, Tottenham, did on Sporting’s field, but they may have to settle for a stalemate before the two teams meet again on March 16 at the Emirates!
The market odds of a stalemate stands @ 3.62.
Total goals over/under
Let’s check the over/under scenario
The odds that the total number of goals scored will be over 2.5, stands @ 2.06.
While the odds that the total number of goals will be under 2.5, stands @ 1.89.
Arsenal are usually a team that finds it quite easy to find the back of the net, but given their injuries they might not do so with the same lethal tendencies!
So expect a low scoring game, with Arsenal still doing just enough to take the lead to the Emirates!
