Arsenal had to fight hard for their 11th consecutive win on Thursday night, but they managed to grind out a 1-0 victory in the end.
In arguably the most difficult fixture of Arsenal’s Europa League group stage, they travelled to Lisbon to face Sporting at the Estádio José Alvalade. The hosts hadn’t lost at the stadium for over a year, and Arsenal weren’t at full strength, with injuries and two Premier League games in close proximity affecting the clash.
As a result, it wasn’t the best performance we’ve seen from the team this season, but they got the job done.
Let’s have a look at our individual player ratings.
4Substitutes
Lucas Torreira 8
Once again, Torreira came on when Arsenal needed to change the game, and he helped them to do so.
The Uruguayan made 42 passes in his 32 minutes on the pitch, as many as Mkhitaryan in the full 90, just eight fewer than Ramsey, and 15 more than Elneny managed in 58 minutes. Of those, four were long balls, all accurate, one of which led to Welbeck’s goal. Torreira could have a big part to play in Arsenal’s future.
Alexandre Lacazette and Alex Iwobi N/A
In all honesty, Lacazette and Iwobi didn’t have anything to do after coming on. It may have been a different story if the score was still 0-0. As it was, they made six passes combined, and that was it.