For the first time in seven years, we’ll take to the field for a Champions League knockout game when we head to Porto in the last 16 of the competition.
The Portuguese giants have struggled in the league this season but impressed in Europe, winning four of their six group games to finish behind Barcelona and set up this tie against ourselves.
In what is potentially a good omen for ourselves, the last time we booked a spot in the quarter-finals of the competition came courtesy of a last-16 win against Porto in 2010, and a first-ever win at the Estadio do Dragao would set us perfectly to replicate that ahead of the second leg on March 12.
Dragons disappointing domestically
The Primeira Liga title looks to be slipping away for Porto, as they trail Sporting Lisbon and Benfica by seven points with 12 games remaining. Recent weeks have seen that gap expand, with a 0-0 draw at home to Rio Ave and a 3-2 defeat at Arouca coming in recent weeks.
They have enjoyed better times in Europe though, and made it to the last 16 by finishing second in a group behind Barcelona. They lost twice to the Catalan side but won their other four games against Royal Antwerp and Shakhtar Donetsk, the latter beaten 5-3 in a winner-take-all encounter on the final matchday.
Sergio Conceicao’s side have scored seven goals in their last two home games in the competition - as many as they had in their previous nine such matches combined - but have won just three of their last 15 Champions League knockout matches, and have been eliminated by English sides in seven of their eight post-group stage ties.
Learn a lot more about our opponents, including their history, star players and manager, as well as the stadium we'll be playing in
What the managers say
Arteta: "I’m really impressed with Porto, I know the manager really well and the history that they have. They have a lot of experience in the competition, they have many qualities in many phases of play, that’s why they are always competitive in the European competitions.
"It’s a really tough opponent that we are going to face tomorrow, but at the same time we are very excited. It’s been seven years that we haven’t been here and we are all full of energy and excitement to play the game we want to." - read every word from Mikel’s pre-match press conference
Conceicao: “Theoretically, we can say that perhaps this is the opponent who can create the greatest difficulties for us [this season]. In practice, it comes down to what we do depending on Arsenal's power. We need to be very competent, competitive, intense and aggressive and understand in which moments and areas we can and should press. Otherwise, we will run the risk of giving Arsenal what they like and we will get in trouble.
“These are meetings of the highest level and, at this stage, even more so. We go into more detail in the preparation, because there is so much quality and situations to cancel that we want to explore. Preparation is no different. Maybe, since there is a lot of material and content, the video session is a little longer. Training on the field is the same."
Team news
Former Porto man Fabio Vieira as well as Thomas Partey have returned to training following their injury lay-offs but it remains to be seen if either will be fit enough to play a part in Portugal.
Gabriel Jesus (knee), Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knock) all sat out the win at Burnley on Saturday through injury, joining Jurrien Timber in the treatment room.
Porto's victory against Estrela on the weekend came at a cost with Nigerian left-back Zaidu Sanusi stretchered off after suffering an ACL injury and ending his season, a similar fate that is keeping veteran centre-back Ivan Marcano sidelined, while prolific striker Mehdi Taremi is nursing a thigh problem that may require treatment.
Canadian midfielder Stephen Eustaquio also missed the game on the weekend, while Fabio Cardoso and Wendell were suspended but are available to play in Europe. 21-year-old defender Otavio made his debut, having arrived from Famalicao in January.
Talking tactics
Adrian Clarke: Conceicao has always been an advocate of 4-4-2 but an injury to star striker Mehdi Taremi has seen him switch to a 4-2-3-1 in recent weeks, with top scorer Evanilson occupying a lone striker’s role.
A lot of their attacking play is directed down the flanks, with star man Galeno [above] the key to their success. He notched four goals and provided three assists from the left of midfield during the group phase. Cutting inside onto his right foot, the 26-year-old has terrific end product, while on the right flank the manager’s son Francisco is a real livewire.
Conceicao’s teams are always well organised, and where possible they like to press from the front. During the group stage they restricted opponents to 11.2 passes per defensive action, which ranked them seventh of the 32 group stage teams for that pressing metric.
Set pieces are also a forte, with three goals in the group stage coming via this method during the group stage, while nine of their 37 league goals so far arrived from dead ball situations.
Facts and stats
Porto have won just one of their last 10 Champions League matches against English opposition, with that win coming against Chelsea in April 2021.
We have won the first leg of just one of our last 11 two-legged knockout ties in the Champions League (D2 L8), losing each of their last six first-leg matches.
We have scored more first-half goals than any other side in the Champions League this season, with 12 of our 16 strikes coming before half-time. We have scored in the opening 45 minutes in each of our last 13 games in the competition, the longest such run in European Cup history.
In this year’s group stage, only Manchester City (91 per cent) and Real Madrid (89 per cent) had a higher pass completion rate under pressure than us (86 per cent). Meanwhile only City (18) and Atletico Madrid (17) scored more goals than our 16.
In a run stretching back to November 2018, Gabriel Jesus has been involved in 20 goals in his last 18 Champions League starts (15 goals, 5 assists). He’s been involved in six goals in four starts so far this term (4 goals, 2 assists).
No player has been involved in more Champions League goals this season than Bukayo Saka (3 goals, 4 assists), averaging a goal involvement every 48 minutes.
Match officials
Dutchman Serdar Gozubuyuk will handle his second Gunners game, following on from our 3-2 Europa League victory over Vitoria Guimaraes in 2019. He has been a referee in the Eredivisie since 2010 and two years later was added to FIFA’s list.
He was handed three games in the group stage of the Champions League, dishing out 15 yellow cards in that time and one penalty, while he averages just over four cards per game in the Dutch top-flight so far this term.
Referee: Serdar Gozubuyuk (NED)
Assistants: Erwin Zeinstra (NED), Johan Balder (NED)
Fourth official: Joey Kooij (NED)
VAR: Dennis Higler (NED)
Assistant VAR: Pol van Boekel (NED)
Previous meetings with Porto
All six of our previous meetings have come in the Champions League, with no away victories recorded in those encounters. The first came back in 2006/07 when we won 2-0 at home thanks to goals from Thierry Henry and Alex Hleb before drawing 0-0 away, while in 2008/09 we were victorious by a 4-0 scoreline when Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor bagged braces, before losing 2-0 away from home.
Those ties were in the group stage, and the last time we locked horns was in the round of 16 the following season, when we overturned a 2-1 loss in the first leg with an emphatic 5-0 win at Emirates Stadium to advance, with Nicklas Bendtner helping himself to a hat-trick.
We have drawn each of our last three trips to Portugal since a 1-0 win at Sporting CP in the Europa League in October 2018, while Porto have also failed to win each of their last five home matches against English teams in the competition.
Live coverage
Ahead of the big game, log on to Arsenal.com or the official app from an hour before kick-off when Nick Bright and Adrian Clarke will be building up to the game on Breakdown Live.
They’ll look at the reasons behind our goalscoring exploits in the league of late, while providing some in-depth analysis of our opponents and their strengths ands weaknesses.
Frimmy will also bring us the second episode of the Big Arsenal Quiz with Jugo, before live commentary comes from Dan Roebuck and Jeremie Aliadiere, keeping you right up to date with all the action from the Estadio do Dragao.
You can also find out which broadcasters are showing the action live in your country
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