Arsenal vs Sporting Prediction: Liking the even money on BTTS

Sporting Lisbon travel to Arsenal in the second leg of this Champions League Quarter-final tie, with the hosts' having an enormous amount of pressure on them due to recent results in other competitions. TNT Sports 1 will have live coverage for UK viewers with the match set to kick-off at 20:00 on Wednesday.

Jamie Pacheco has his main bet on the both teams to score market but has also found two Sporting players who could well get their names in the ref’s notebook. Let's check out all of his Arsenal vs Sporting Predictions below...   

Arsenal  

Arsenal just about deserved their win last week, but it also says a thing or two about how hard they had to work for it that Arsenal keeper David Raya was UEFA's player of the match. 

Kai Havertz came off the bench to score the all-important winner but a special mention should go to Declan Rice, who was immense all match. 

It's pretty remarkable that their win last Tuesday was the only one in their last four games across four separate competitions. And they didn't just fail to win the other three, they lost the lot, the last of which was a 2-1 home defeat to Bournemouth at the weekend, which has put them under immense pressure when a few weeks ago they looked like they were going to win the Premier League at a canter.      

It's hard to say exactly what's gone wrong these last few weeks, although of course a few injuries haven't helped matters.  

Arsenal are sweating over the fitness of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber ahead of the second leg. With the possible exception of Odegaard, all would be certain starters if fit.  

Still, a 1-0 lead and home advantage mean the dice are loaded in their favour.   

Sporting Lisbon 

Sporting will be pretty disappointed they didn't at least draw the first leg, a combination of some indifferent finishing and some excellent goalkeeping denying them a vital goal.  

But they'll be well aware this is a good time to be playing Arsenal and certainly have the weapons in attack to trouble a side going through a bad patch.  

They won at the weekend to keep their title challenge alive but only just (1-0). Skipper Hjulmand is back after missing the game last week through suspension and will being energy and leadership. All eyes on Luis Suárez, their most likely source of a goal.   

Match Odds: 

Arsenal are 1/2, with the draw 10/3 and Sporting 11/2.  

That's a pretty poor price on Arsenal, who as we've already said, have lost three of their last four and were somewhat fortunate to win in Lisbon last week with that late goal.  

Besides, as we often say, it's not always the best idea to back a team that doesn't actually need to win. Which they don't.  

It would be quite a big ask for Sporting to actually win, so the draw would be the best pick of the three if we had to play that market, but we don't have to play it, of course. 

*You can bet on the match and check out all of our Betting Markets on the Arsenal vs Sporting Odds page on betfred.com

Both Teams to score  

The better bet is this one. That Arsenal clean sheet last week was a bit of an anomaly on two fronts.  

Firstly, because Arsenal's defence isn't quite the force it was earlier on in the season and secondly because Sporting almost always score. That was the first time in 30-odd home matches where they failed to get at least one.  

As obvious as it sounds, Sporting are going to have to go for it at some stage, and David Raya can't keep on pulling off miracles. We'd expect Arsenal to get at least one of their own, so the even money on both teams to score has to be taken.  

To be shown a card 

Clichéd as it sounds, things could get a bit tasty out there in such an important game.  

And French referee Francois Letexier isn't afraid to get his cards out, averaging just short of four yellows a game and showing seven reds in 28 games so far this season. 

Sporting have two players who are decent bets to be shown a card here. Full-back Maxi Araujo (7/5) has seen three yellows so far and can be pretty aggressive in the tackle, while skipper Hjulmand (8/5) has seen five (!) in this competition and also has a habit of talking himself into the book.  

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Jamie Pacheco Football P/L 2025/26 (Excludes 3-3-3 column):   

• Points Staked: 35.1    
• Points Returned: 32.67     
• Current P/L: -2.43 

You can check out Jamie's Football Betting Tips along with those from the rest of the Betfred Insights Football writers on our Football home page...