FC Porto vs Arsenal | 2023/24 CL | Three Things We Learnt

We learnt a few things as Arsenal suffered a quite surprising 0-1 defeat to FC Porto in Portugal in the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League this week. The loss came after five consecutive wins for the Gunners in the Premier League. In fact, it was the Gunners’ only second defeat in 2024.

Arsenal players dejected after suffering a late defeat to FC Porto, Porto Arsenal things learnt — Image Obtained Via CNN

Brazilian winger Galeno scored the winner for the Portuguese side deep in the 94^th minute, just when it seemed that the match would end in a goalless draw. Mikel Arteta’s men will have a chance to overturn the deficit in the second leg in March, although the Spaniard would have been much happier to come out of the away tie with a draw.

Let’s take a look at three takeaways from the FC Porto vs Arsenal match:

1. Lack of Incision and Penetration in the Final Third

Arsenal, quite expectedly, started the match with a 4-2-3-1 formation, leaving Jorginho on the bench. Kai Havertz started as a central midfielder and Leandro Trossard as the centre-forward. In the defence, Jakub Kiwior started as the left-back, but was not very impressive.

Both Havertz and Martin Odegaard, however, had a decent outing and impressed with their work-rate and passing overall. Still, the Gunners suffered because of their lack of incision in the final-third, as both Trossard and Havertz had chances to break the deadlock, but failed to hit the target from a close distance.

Arsenal also did not create enough chances in the match to threaten the FC Porto defence. Bukayo Saka had a decent match, but Gabriel Martinelli was below par on the left flank.

2. Dominating Ball-possession Meant Little for Arsenal

Arsenal dominated ball-possession from the very beginning. However, there was simply not enough effective movement of the ball near the opposition penalty box. The Gunners played nearly twice as many passes as Porto did but without any end product.

Most of Arsenal’s passes were played in the middle-third and inside their own half only. As a result, they were unable to make any serious dent in the final-third and did not register a single shot on target in the match. It came as a surprise, as the Gunners had scored 21 goals in their last five Premier League matches.

Arsenal had 65% ball-possession against FC Porto, which should have been enough to secure a win at the Estadio do Dragao. They suffered a defeat instead, which might jeopardize their chances of advancing to the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

Mikel Arteta’s are playing in the coveted European competition after a gap of 6 seasons and they haven’t cleared the Round of 16 since 2010. The problem of lacking a proper No. 9 resurfaced in Porto after it had seemed non-existent in the Gunners’ last few matches.

3. The Gunners Have Another Tricky Fixture Ahead

Arsenal will face Newcastle United in a crucial Premier League match this Saturday and they cannot afford to have a slip-up in that. Only five points are separating the top three teams in the Premier League at the moment, with Liverpool having played a match more, and any untoward result in a match can potentially spoil the Championship race for any of them.

The Gunners will then take on Sheffield United and Brentford in two relatively easy fixtures before they host Porto in the return leg at the Emirates Stadium. Arteta will want to build some momentum ahead of that match by preferably winning each of the three league matches before it.

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