Porto Vs Arsenal Match Preview

Porto’s Run

Porto’s journey to this stage of the competition have been nothing short of impressive winning four of their six group games, they kicked off their campaign with an emphatic 3-1 away win at Shakhtar Donetsk, the two losses they suffered in the group stage were in the hands of Barcelona, a 1-0 loss at home on matchday 2 back in October 2023 and 2-1 loss on matchday 5 at the Estadi Olympic Lluís Companys the temporary home of FC Barcelona, Pepe’s 30th minute equalizer wasn’t enough as João Felix 57th minute strike secured all three points for the Catalans in that encounter.

The Dragons sit in third place in the Portuguese top-flight league, seven points behind league leaders Benfica and four behind second-placed Sporting CP, they have not really been convincing in their domestic campaign.

Head to Head

This encounter with Arsenal will be the 7th meeting of these two sides in the UEFA Champions League with Arsenal coming out top in three, Porto winning two while one ended in a draw. The Gunners have been exceptional under Ex-player turned manager Mikel Arteta having finished top of group B with 13 points blowing away opponents including a 4-0 humiliation of Dutch giants PSV in matchday 1 and a 6-0 thrashing of French side Lens in matchday 5.

They no doubt have their eyes on winning the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history parading a lot of exciting and talented young players the likes of Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Lesandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli etc.

Arsenal’s Run

They are on a five game winning streak on the home front scoring an impressive 11 goals in their last two match and also recording clean sheets a pointer to how ruthless this side can be, strong in defence and clinical in attack. They are second on the EPL table with 55 points, two behind Liverpool who are currently leading the pack.

Porto will have a lot of trouble stopping a very motivated, energetic and prolific Arsenal attack who are hungry to win titles especially the UEFA Champions League which has seemed elusive to the club in its existence. Arsenal on the other hand will need to approach the game cautiously, the game promises to be an exciting one and a game to look out for.