(Football news) The Gunners put three past Nottingham Forest without reply over the weekend, while their hosts kicked off the post-Ruben Amorim era with a comprehensive 6-0 Taca de Portugal pummelling of Amarante.
A two-week reset was evidently what the doctor ordered for Mikel Arteta and co, as a near-perfect afternoon for Arsenal against a hitherto defensively sturdy Nottingham Forest saw the Gunners end their disheartening four-game winless run in the Premier League.
Two stunners from Bukayo Saka and Thomas Partey preceded a first Premier League goal from perhaps the most popular scorer—Ethan Nwaneri—as the 17-year-old became the second-youngest Arsenal player to register in the Premier League after Cesc Fabregas.
Nwaneri was also one of the brightest sparks on the San Siro turf a few weeks ago, but the teenager could not save Arsenal’s bacon after a Hakan Calhanoglu penalty, which propelled Inter Milan to a 1-0 success and condemned the Gunners to UCL loss number one of the season.
By virtue of suffering their first defeat—and conceding their first goal—of the new-look Champions League, Arsenal reside in 12th place in the 36-team rankings but are only two points off a place in the top eight, which would guarantee safe passage into the knockout rounds.
The toothlessness that Arsenal exhibited in Milan should now be a thing of the past with string-puller Martin Odegaard back in the ranks, but Champions League away days have not been their forte in recent times; they are winless in five straight road matches in the competition and have failed to score in each of their last four.
Only one Premier League side has ever gone scoreless in five straight away games in Europe’s premier tournament—Manchester United from 2004 to 2005—and even an Amorim-less Sporting have every reason to believe that they can condemn Arsenal to that unwanted fate.
With their former revered head coach now settled at his Manchester United base, Joao Pereira has been placed in control of the reins on a three-year basis and kicked off his reign with a six-goal slaughter of Amarante in Friday’s Taca de Portugal clash, where rumoured Arsenal target Viktor Gyokeres was among the scorers.
The scintillating Swede has recent experience when it comes to ripping Premier League sides to shreds too, as in Amorim’s last Champions League match in charge of Sporting, Gyokeres struck a momentous hat-trick to help the Primeira Liga leaders decimate Manchester City 4-1 at Estadio Jose Alvalade.
Only perfect Liverpool have out-performed second-placed Sporting in the current UCL campaign, and Pereira’s men are seeking a tremendous 10th consecutive victory in all competitions on Tuesday; their nine straight successes up to this point have brought a staggering 31 goals.
The hosts are also revelling in a magnificent 14-game winning home run across all tournaments since March’s 1-1 draw with Atalanta BC in the Europa League, but while they dumped Arsenal out of the 2022-23 Europa League last 16 on penalties, they are yet to record a 90-minute victory over the revitalised Gunners.
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