{"id":13228,"date":"2026-04-14T21:34:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T20:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13228"},"modified":"2026-04-16T07:01:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T06:01:21","slug":"flagging-fearful-gunners-to-find-front-foot-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13228","title":{"rendered":"Flagging, fearful Gunners to find front-foot fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2270803070\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:63.299664% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/2270803070?et=AReSLRdCTJRT-pFboP62_g&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=p-LFUS6E_mF4KDOPCOSk8aYBs0PEWs8bQUXwKKfmq-o=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"594\" height=\"376\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>And so to the Stadium of Stone for the second leg of our Champions League quarter-final against Sporting CP on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We renew an acquaintance that began in the second round of the Fairs Cup in 1969-70, a competition we would go on to win. A good omen, one hopes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We currently hold a slender but important lead over Sporting, which was not secured until added time in the first leg. Kai Havertz paid down more of his \u00a365 million acquisition cost with a finish that looked simpler than it was. The travelling faithful, in good voice throughout the game, reminded the world of the value we have got for our money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Up until that point, Dr F\u2019s Iron Age Phoenician maritime merchant was, I imagine, thinking that an away draw is never a terrible result for a team in the first leg of a Champions League quarter-final, but the Pritani side\u2019s need to score at home in the second leg would leave them vulnerable to the Olisipoans\u2019 counterattacks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The late goal will have altered that ancient wisdom, and our man, no doubt, would have returned to wondering how to get the rest of the known world to adopt the Phoenician innovations of an alphabet and writing consistently in the same direction. Runes? Really? So late Bronze Age!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rui Borges<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before the first leg, Rui Borges warned his team that we were a wounded animal. This time, he smells blood. Our visitor\u2019s head coach will arrive at the Ems confident that his side has a sporting chance (I\u2019ll get my coat!) of overturning its one-goal deficit by following the playbook he used at the Est\u00e1dio Jos\u00e9 Alvalade \u2014 a disciplined defence and fast breaks, interspersed with tumbling and whingeing to disrupt the opposition\u2019s attempts to build momentum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arteta blunted rather than vanquished that approach in the first leg, but it still took David Raya to prevent Sporting\u2019s XG of 1.57 goals from their shots on target from spoiling a clean sheet. Sporting also had more shots on target than we did and took more shots in the box. I present this pot-pourri of statistics to remind us that our visitors pose an attacking threat we cannot ignore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rui Silva, one of Portugal\u2019s back-up keepers, should start in goal. The sharp-eyed among you may spot Jo\u00e3o&nbsp;Virg\u00ednia, once of this parish, on the bench. He is now Sporting\u2019s domestic cup keeper, although Rui Borges drops him in favour of Rui Silva once Sporting reaches semi-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The young Ivorian international Ousmane Diomande, who delivered the sumptuous pass with the outside of his foot that nearly led to an early Sporting lead in the first leg, should partner Portugal international Gon\u00e7alo&nbsp;In\u00e1cio in the centre of a back four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Outside them should be Spain U-21 right-back Iv\u00e1n Fresneda and Uruguay left-back Maxi&nbsp;Ara\u00fajo. Fresneda came off at half-time at the weekend after feeling a twinge, so the Greek international Georgios Vagiannidis, a \u00a330 million summer signing from Panathanaikos, may have to continue deputising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ara\u00fajo impressed in the first leg but also caught the eye for meting out some old-school Uruguayan defending on Noni Madueke. Seven fouls, but no card. Really?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Club captain Morten Hjulmand, the Denmark international reportedly of interest to City as a replacement for Rhodri, should return after missing the first leg due to a suspension for accumulating yellow cards. Arguably, Martinelli would not have had the space to set up Havertz\u2019s first-leg winner had Hjulmand been on the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He will anchor the midfield alongside seasoned Japan international Hidemasa&nbsp;Morita or Dani&nbsp;Bragan\u00e7a, who has been gradually building up his match minutes after a long ACL lay-off. Bragan\u00e7a got half an hour as a sub in the first leg and came off the bench to score the winner in the league at the weekend. Rui Borges values Bragan\u00e7a\u2019s reading of the game and may look to get an hour out of him from the outset on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ahead of the double pivot will be Mozambique\u2019s right winger Geny&nbsp;Catamo and left winger Pedro&nbsp;Gon\u00e7alves, who scored from near the halfway line when Sporting knocked us out of the Europa League in 2022-23 and whose recent&nbsp;form has earned him a recall to the national squad after a four-year absence.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Playmaker Francisco&nbsp;Trinc\u00e3o, whose moustache so impresses GSD, will complete the trio of attacking midfielders. He may once have spent an evening at the Ems twiddling it, as he was an unused sub against us in a Premier League game while on loan at Wolves in the 2021-22 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Luis Su\u00e1rez should lead the line. That is the Colombian Su\u00e1rez, who was on Watford\u2019s books for three seasons, all spent on loan, not the bitey Uruguayan. Replacing VG14, he is Sporting\u2019s leading goalscorer this season with 33 goals in all competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One to watch from the bench will be Geovany&nbsp;Quenda, a Bissau-born 18-year-old who has been called up but not yet capped by Portugal. Quenda returned to the squad at the weekend after fracturing a metatarsal in December. Before that, he was an ever-present, having been given his debut by Rubin Amorin as a wing-back. Rui Borges has played him, Saka-like, as a right-winger or a left-back. Like Bukayo, Quenda is left-footed, quick and has excellent close control.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quenda\u2019s first goal for the club relieved Cristiano Ronaldo of the title of Sporting&#8217;s youngest goalscorer. He is moving to Chelsea in the summer, so that will presumably bring a premature end to a promising career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the weekend, a well-rotated Sporting returned to winning ways, beating Estrela Amadora 1-0 in the league, a result Rui Borges called a sweaty triumph, although the phrase may have lost something in translation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sweaty triumph or any close variant could not be applied to our defeat by Bournemouth last Saturday. The blinding light of revival needs to break through the dark clouds gathered overhead, sharpish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his pre-match press conference, Arteta kept the fitness updates close to his chest, particularly regarding Calafiori, \u00d8degaard, Rice, Saka and Timber, hinting that only one of those five first-choice starters would be fit to play. My punt on the starting XI:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Raya<br>White, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapi\u00e9<br>Zubimendi, Rice, Eze<br>Madueke, Gy\u00f6keres, Trossard<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I could see Cristhian Mosquera starting instead of Benny Blanco, and, assuming Rice is fit, the cream-crackered Zubimendi, who is a yellow card away from a CL suspension, being rested ahead of the Man City game. N\u00f8rgaard would replace him, despite also being a suspension risk. Arteta might also start with a set-up more akin to 4-4-2, with Havertz playing in the right channel and Trossard dropping to the bench to give Eze some creative room on the left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sporting showed in the first leg that they were by no means the easy touch some had expected. They are a determined and disciplined side, but one we should be able to beat at home \u2014 although much the same could have been said of Bournemouth.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We stand, let us remind the Arteta naysayers, on the cusp of reaching back-to-back CL semi-finals for the first time. I can do no better than to rehearse Dr. F\u2019s advice to the team in the previous drinks, play to your strengths but also play with courage and confidence. Or, as Arteta put it, no fear, pure fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To quote GSD, we need a result, and preferably a performance too, so we can go into a huge game next weekend ready to do the business. I will go for 2-1, if not a pretty 2-1, but, at this point in the season, it is the result that counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Enjoy the game, \u2018holics, near and far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images And so to the Stadium of Stone for the second leg of our Champions League quarter-final against Sporting CP on Wednesday evening. We renew an acquaintance that began in the second round of the Fairs Cup in 1969-70, a competition we would go on to win. A good omen, one hopes.&nbsp; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13228"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13238,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13228\/revisions\/13238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}