Arsenal head into their UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg against Sporting CP with a mixed injury update, as key returns are balanced by fresh absences.<\/p>\n
Manager Mikel Arteta has received a timely boost with Declan Rice set to return to the squad. The midfielder missed the recent FA Cup defeat but trained ahead of the trip to Lisbon and is expected to start.<\/p>\n
There is also positive news in defence. Gabriel Magalh\u00e3es has recovered from a knee scare and is likely to partner William Saliba at centre-back.<\/p>\n
However, Arsenal will be without Bukayo Saka, who has not travelled due to injury. Jurrien Timber also remains sidelined, adding pressure on Arteta\u2019s defensive options.<\/p>\n
In attack, Noni Madueke is expected to replace Saka on the right flank, while Martin \u00d8degaard will continue to lead the midfield. Viktor Gy\u00f6keres is set to lead the line against his former club.<\/p>\n
Arsenal are likely to line up in a 4-3-3 system, with David Raya in goal and new defensive adjustments including Cristhian Mosquera and Riccardo Calafiori.<\/p>\n
Sporting Lisbon possible starting lineup:<\/strong><\/p>\n Silva; Vagiannidis, Diomande, Inacio, Mangas; Braganca, Morita; Catamo, Trincao, Goncalves; Suarez<\/p>\n Arsenal possible starting lineup:<\/strong><\/p>\n Raya; White, Gabriel, Saliba, Calafiori; Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard; Martinelli, Gyokeres, Madueke.<\/p>\n Match Prediction<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Sporting CP 1-1 Arsenal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Arsenal head into their UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg against Sporting CP with a mixed injury update, as key\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":45400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4652],"tags":[270,1738,2301,3686,1823,3796,3701,702,4951,3549,490,3794,178],"class_list":["post-47475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-champions-league","tag-arsenal","tag-arteta","tag-bukayo-saka","tag-david-ornstein","tag-fabrizio-romano","tag-football","tag-jurrien-timber","tag-mikel-arteta","tag-sporting-cp","tag-sporting-lisbon","tag-ucl","tag-ucl-quarter-finals","tag-uefa"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47475"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47476,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47475\/revisions\/47476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}