- Date: Tuesday, March 12, 2024
- Location: Emirates Stadium, London
- Teams: Arsenal vs FC Porto
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Arsenal look to turn turn around as Porto travel to London with a lead
Arsenal welcome seasoned European campaigners Porto to the Emirates as they look to overturn a 1-0 aggregate scoreline following defeat in Portugal almost a fortnight ago.
Brazilian Wenderson Galeno scored the only goal of the first leg. The 26-year-old struck deep into injury time to hand Porto a crucial lead. Porto matched in-form Arsenal on the night and, while defeat was possibly harsh on the Gunners, Mikel Arteta’s side did not do enough to win the game as Porto’s well drilled side frustrated them, while looking extremely dangerous in transition.
Arsenal
The defeat to Porto has been a rare blip for Arsenal in 2024. They have won eight Premier League matches on the spin and are in fine goalscoring form. Arsenal earned a hard fought victory over a battling Brentford side at the weekend, a win which sent them to the top of the table ahead of Sunday’s clash between their title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City, in what is developing into an intriguing three horse race.
FC Porto
Porto caused as many problems for Arsenal as any side has this season and, while it can be argued that they were fortunate to win the match, Sérgio Conceição’s side had limited Arsenal to very few opportunities and had looked the more dangerous side.
Porto, like Arsenal, are in fine form domestically. The 30-time Primeira Liga champions have remained unbeaten since the first leg tie, including a thumping 5-0 win over bitter-rivals Benfica last Sunday. They warmed up for the trip to London with a 3-0 away success at Portimonense.
Prediction
Porto are a good side. They got their tactics spot on in the first leg and caused Arsenal a number of problems. Arsenal, being a goal down, obviously need to score. Porto looked extremely good in transition in the first leg, therefore being caught on the break is a major danger for Arteta to think about.
However, all things being equal, and with the greatest of respect to Porto, Arsenal should have too much for them on Tuesday. Especially given their form in 2024. We expect Arsenal to get the win they need, at least by a single goal to take the tie to extra time. We also expect them to go through, even if extra time and penalties are required. Home win.
Emirates Stadium London
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