Sporting vs Arsenal Prediction: Hosts a big price to take a first-leg lead

The pressure is ratcheting up on Arsenal and manager Mikel Arteta following a Cup Final defeat and a shock 2-1 reversal at Southampton to dump them out of the FA Cup. Now the Quadruple is down to a Double, and they've got a fairly good draw as they take on porting on Tuesday night. Amazon Prime Video will broadcast the game live on TV for UK viewers with kick-off set for 20:00. 

Jamie Pacheco thinks the home side can capitalise on Arsenal's nerves but that an old boy may come back to haunt the Portuguese side. You can check out his full match preview and his Sporting vs Arsenal Predictions right here. This is one of two Champions League matches on Tuesday evening, you can read our Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich Predictions elsewhere on site...

Sporting  

It seems like a long time ago since Sporting were getting the better of Bodo Glimt, beating them 3-0 at home in regular time after going into the second leg 3-0 down and then scoring another two goals in extra-time to progress.  

There were five different scorers on the night, always a good sign that they're not overly reliant on just one player to score, though it should come as no surprise that our old friend Luis Suarez was one of the scorers, from the penalty spot.  

One man who didn't score that night was Francisco Trincao, but he scored a good goal on Portugal duty away in the USA last week and then also scored one at the weekend in a 4-2 win over Santa Clara. The week before that they beat Alverca 4-1 so they've been full of goals of late.  

They're five points behind Porto with a game in hand so it could do down to the wire in the Portuguese Superliga with Benfica also breathing down their neck, in third place.  

There are no injuries or suspensions to speak of, so they'll be at full strength here.  

Arsenal  

The Gunners are going through a poor period at the moment. 

A few weeks ago there was talk of a possible quadruple but defeat to Manchester City in the final of the League Cup and a shock loss to Southampton in the FA Cup at the weekend means that's no longer the case.  

And yes, there were a couple of injuries to speak of in that loss to the Saints but they still fielded a pretty strong side and had some big names come off the bench.  

Speaking of injuries, Gabriel has recovered from one sustained in that loss on Saturday and should be available to play here, the same also true of Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard. 

But they're almost certainly going to have to make do without Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke, and Jurrien Timber, so those are three big losses.     

Viktor Gyokeres returns to the stadium where he scored endless goals over an extremely successful two-year spell.  

Match Odds: 

Sporting are 18/5 to win the game with Arsenal 8/11 and the draw 11/4.  

This game really couldn't have come at a worse time for the Gunners. They've lost their last two and for the first time this season, look low on confidence.  

It's true that Sako hasn't been at his best these last few weeks but he's a big game player so if he doesn't feature, that will be a big loss for Arsenal, while if Timber doesn't make it, that would be a major blow, as well.  Madueke can be dangerous off the bench.  

I wouldn't put anyone off taking the 21/20 on either the Sporting win or the draw in the Double chance market but I think it's worth being a bit more ambitious here and going for the straight home win at a far bigger price. 

Sporting have been excellent of late, beating Porto in the Cup a few weeks ago and putting a rare poor performance away in Norway to one side and recovering extremely well to knock out Bodo. The house was really rocking that night and the crowd support can make a big difference here.  

If this had been a couple of weeks ago, with Arsenal playing well and high on confidence, I would have said the prices looked about right, but right here, right now, that's a good price on Sporting.  

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

To Score Anytime  

It may however be worth having a saver of sorts on Gyokeres.  

The Swedish international hasn't had it all his own way this season and found things a bit tough when he first arrived but he's certainly got much better and has been in the goals of late. 

He scored Arsenal's only goal on Saturday and before that got a goal as Sweden qualified for the World Cup at the expense of Poland. And five days prior to that, he got a hat-trick against Ukraine, so that's now five in his last three.  

Players always seem to have this thing of trying that little bit harder when they face their former clubs and he certainly has good memories of playing here so that 6/4 on him scoring anytime will do us just fine.  

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

• Points Staked: 33.6    
• Points Returned: 32.67     
• Current P/L: -0.93 

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...