Before taking on Sporting, Arsenal have lost back-to-back games for the first time this season
When Arsenal face Sporting in their Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday, there will be much more riding on the game than just a knockout match in Lisbon.
For many, this is where the Gunners need to show back-to-back defeats, against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final and the damaging loss to Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-final, will not leak into their European and Premier League campaigns.
Arsenal have been tagged as the 'nearly men' under Mikel Arteta with three successive second-placed finishes in the Premier League in the last three seasons.
But the Gunners have played a ruthless style of football this season, which has seen them establish a nine-point lead in the Premier League, reach the final of one cup competition and, depending what happens in two legs against Sporting, at least the quarter-final stage of the two other cup campaigns they began.
