Last Word on Football brings you the latest team news and predicted lineups ahead of the Sporting CP vs Arsenal Champions League quarter-final first leg at Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon. The home team will be buoyed by their recent excellent form, including their brilliant 5-0 win in the last round against Bodø/Glimt. Arsenal cruised past Leverkusen in the last round, but will be eager to bounce back after losing the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City and losing to Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-final.
Champions League: Team News and Predicted Lineups for Sporting CP vs Arsenal
Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2026
Venue: Estádio José Alvalade
Kick-off: 20:00 GMT
Last meeting: Arsenal 1-1 Sporting CP (3-5 penalties) (March 16, 2023).
Referee: Daniel Siebert
Current odds: Sporting CP 3/1, Arsenal 4/5, Draw 14/5.
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Sporting CP Team News
Rui Borges’ team are in great form, as they aim to chase FC Porto down in the league. They will be confident they can upset Arsenal over two legs, but Sporting will need to do it without their captain, Morten Hjulmand, who is suspended.
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Geovany Quenda and Luis Guilherme will also be missing due to injury, but they do have their dangerous attacking trio available: Francisco Trincão, Pedro Gonçalves, and Luis Suárez.
Arsenal Team News
In the pre-match press conference, Mikel Arteta was asked if the defeat against Southampton makes the Sporting game more important:
“I think it doesn’t change it, I mean, regardless, this is the quarter-finals of the Champions League, it doesn’t get much better than that, and we worked so hard throughout the season to be in this position in the competition. We’re going to play an opponent here that we know about, their record and what they’ve done. So we are hungrier than ever, very excited and very, very motivated for tomorrow’s game,” said Arteta.
The Gunners boss also confirmed Gabriel, Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard will be available.
Discussing the availability of Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber, Arteta said: “No, they’re having trouble, they’re not ready yet. Let’s see, hopefully they’re going to be ready for the weekend, if everything goes well, and that’s a massive boost because in recent days we’ve lost so many important players and that’s something that we need to change immediately.”
Sporting CP Predicted Lineup
Silva
Vagiannidis
Diomande
Inácio
Mangas
Bragança
Morita
Catamo
Trincão
Gonçalves
Suárez
Arsenal Predicted Lineup
Raya
Mosquera
Saliba
Gabriel
Calafiori
Zubimendi
Rice
Madueke
Odegaard
Trossard
Gyokeres
Featured Image Credit:
IMAGO / Pro Sports Images
