Marcus Edwards showed no mercy in scoring against his old club, he will be hungry to deal more damage against their rivals.
Arsenal head to Lisbon this evening for their round of 16 clash with Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League.
Mikel Arteta’s men topped their group, winning five of their six games with only two teams bettering their defensive display – conceding only three goals.
Meanwhile, Sporting dropped out of the Champions League at the group stage but made their statement in the qualifying round – thumping Midtjylland 5-1 on aggregate.
Ruben Amorim made sure his side didn’t leave the competition in regret, recording two emphatic wins including an impressive 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
One to watch is Sporting Lisbon’s Marcus Edwards, the 24-year-old has recorded 10 goal involvements in 23 matches in the Liga Portugal and netted twice in the Champions League.
After joining the Spurs academy at the age of eight, Edwards was sold to Vitória de Guimarães in 2019 before making a mark in the Portuguese Premier League and signing for the Lions in January, 2022.
A versatile forward who can play across the attack and possesses a sharp turn of speed – the Gunners will need to plan around the Englishman’s ability.
His goal against Spurs showed determination and precision.
Terrific agility to evade the challenge from Pierre Emile Hojbjerg presented Edwards the opportunity to line-up a meticulous strike from the edge of the area – leaving World Cup winner Hugo Lloris little chance to save.
The two met in this competiton in 2018, a goalless draw in the first leg was settled by a late Danny Welbeck strike at the Estádio José Alvalade in the return fixture.
Many will be aware of how much threat the Gunners impose, the North-London outfit are considered one of the favourites to life the trophy, interestingly the Lions have only suffered one exit at this stage in the competition’s most recent format.
Losing to Atletico Madrid in 2009/10 who went on to secure the silverware, a positive statistic for Arteta’s men.
Sporting head into the clash unbeaten in five, as for the visitors, they have won four on the bounce.
The tie of the round kicks off at 17:45, watchable on BT Sport.
