Arsenal out of Europa League 2022/23 and set their sights at EPL glory this season!
North-Londoners Arsenal are enjoying a very special time at the top of English Premier League standings. They are currently in a battle only with defending champions Manchester City who are chasing their 3rd consecutive PL trophy to become only the 2nd club in the history to do it. As of the Gunners are ahead by 5 points with 66 points while City are 61.
However, Mikel Arteta’s side could not keep their resilience in under European lights at home against Sporting CP for UEFA Europa League Round of 16 2nd leg. The tie went down to the wire and the final result was decided on penalty shootouts.
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The first leg at Lisbon was locked in with a final scoreline of 2-2 as William Saliba’s 22nd minute strike was accompanied by an own goal by Hidemasa Morita in the 62nd minute. Arsenal were expected to register a second leg win to proceed but they succumbed to the pressure during a nervy penalty shootout.
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Mikel Arteta’s scored the opening goal at the Emirates through Granit Xhaka’s 19th minute strike. However, Sporting CP found a way back through Pedro Goncalves’ superlative strike from the middle of the field to the back of the net. Arsenal #1 Aaron Ramsdale initiated his run towards the back a fraction late and paid the price.
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Arsenal despite having 9 shots on target, converted only 1 goal which was not enough against an energetic Sporting CP side. In the penalty shootout, both the teams scored their first 3 penalties but Gabriel Martinelli missed Arsenal’s 4th attempt while Nuno Santos scored the winner and sent Sporting to the last 8 of the Europa League.
Although Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard were able to convert their chances a single failure cost them from entering Quarter-finals. The North Londoners are now just focused on winning the Premier League this season for the first time since 2003-04.
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