Sporting Lisbon v Arsenal - Exciting encounter on the cards

THE EUROPA LEAGUE returns on Thursday night as Arsenal take on Sporting Lisbon. Tom Love (@TomLove_18) shares his betting thoughts.

Sporting Lisbon v Arsenal | Thursday 25th October 2018, 17:55 | BT Sport

Arsenal carried on their tremendous winning run on Monday night in a come-from-behind victory against Leicester. The Gunners played some sumptuous stuff with Mesut Ozil starring; their one-two touch football proved impossible for the opposition to deal with.

Unai Emery has a superb record in this competition and the Gunners have won their opening two games with consummate ease. This game will pose a much sterner test though and Emery has brought a strong roster in order to get a result.

Sporting have had an indifferent start to their domestic campaign – they currently sit fifth in the Liga Nos standings. The capital club have lost to Braga and Portimonense but they have won both their Europa League games so far.

Jose Peseiro took the helm after a bizarre summer at the Lisbon outfit, which involved ultras strong the training ground and attacking players and staff. That debacle led to a lot of senior players leaving, as well as former coach Jorge Jesus.

Some good players still remain for the Green-Whites – Bruno Fernandes, Jeremy Mathieu and Marcos Acuna the picks. Goals are rarely a problem for Sporting and they can definitely notch against a less-than-convincing Arsenal defence.

I was surprised to see Over 2.5 Goals chalked up at even-money (William Hill) here considering both teams tend to be involved in goal-heavy games.

Arsenal’s style is conducive to goals and whichever team they pick, they still play on the offensive. The three previous games for both sides have seen three or more goals land and the odds available for a repeat are very attractive.