Smith-Rowe starts. Put on a good one for the team, boy!

City likely, Spurs unlikely.

Oh yes, our dear forgotten Jenkinson starts too. Hope he does very well. He needs a big boost.

Nice flowing move, unfortunate for Welbeck. Good save by their gk

A yellow needs to be dished. The Sporting players are not sporting at all.

b%*&s%*^ Nani, and we get a yellow. BS ref

Welbeck looking to be in some trouble. Taken a nasty knock.

I think the standing defender did a deliberate knock at Welbeck's foot, as he was going down.

Let's see how our player of the month does.

Is that it? I couldn’t work it out. Looked innocuous at first

Good over lapping run, but terrible cross

They should replay it. I believe that was what happened. It was like kicking at speed onto a standing steel pole. The Sporting players are making niggly fouls but the ref is not calling them out.

About time ref, dish it to them

If Welbeck is out for a long time I think we need to buy a replacement in January. None of this nonsense we did before where we sat on our hands and jut waited for the injured player to come back - Welbeck isn’t our player in 8 months so go and buy his replacement in jan.
It is too much to have just Lacazette and Aubameyang as senior strikers for the rest of the season. We need the versatility of a player who can play wide in a front 3 or play the lone striker role

The best thing for Welbeck is that is just a simple break of the leg - in comparison to other serious injuries it could be. He could be back in 2 months with a leg break. If it’s knee, ankle or ligaments it is usually a lot longer than a ‘normal’ break

Mkhitaryan making a good account of himself today

Speedy recovery Welbeck

Seen an image of the Welbeck injury. His ankle is turned the opposite direction. Broken or dislocated or both for sure. I think that is a season ender

Nani has now switched roles. He’s now become the ref. Annoying git.

Bollo. Liechesteiner looks like he’s done his hamstring. Expensive game here.

Oh no, Lichsteiner injured now.

Nani is indeed an annoying git

Guendouzi just gave Nani a fair whack. Nani deserved it.
Lichtsteiner chasing a ball pulled up lame, Nani picked up the ball and we know you play to the whistle but when you’ve seen your opponent pull up as Lichtsteiner had to you put it out, you know he isn’t faking it, you don’t go and dribble and attack the space he’s now left

I like the new Ramsey. He is bringing the ball forward more than sideway and back passes nowadays. Coached or instructed byEmery to play this way?

Totally dominated but only 2 shots on target. Final ball or final shot has been quite poor today. Too many skied crosses or shots

Interesting. Mathieu sent off. Aubameyang forced the issue.

Red card for their Cb. Clear one, Aubameyang sniffed out a back pass and was quicker and in on the gk and was surged down, unfortunately for us just outside the penalty area. 3 mins and a dangerous free kick

Another one skied

Oh dear. Horrible resultant free kick. It’s becoming one of those nights.

Ramsey with so many chances to cross, goes on a lazy run and tries a 1 in 10 trick, goes out for a goal kick. Playing 10 men you have to load the box, make them defend it you’ll more than likely just recycle it straight back in there

After praising him, he decided to make that bad foray in the penalty area. Pass it in!

Sporting look to have been coached by Tony Pulis..

Last minute corner and Mkhitaryan fires it so far long. He did that with a free kick. It is painful to see any professionals do that. A player has a huge target zone to hit from a corner and he has pverhit a 40 yard ball by 20 yards. Really really bad

Qualification done, would have been nice to seal the top spot but I think I'm right in saying we only need another win to do that as our head to head is better v Sporting.
Europa group stage is all about getting through and resting players - two injuries is not great. Welbeck possibly looks a season ender, Lichsteiner probably a 3 week hamstring - good timing to get AMN back who can provide some very useful multi positional cover.

The general play was ok tonight, we dominated, never looked in any trouble in defence. The poor part was the play in the final 3rd. Too many nearly moments and not enough quality with the final pass or final shot.

Players like Iwobi and Mkhitaryan need to improve their goal tallies and part of that is their confidence in front of goal, only 1 goal each this season. Iwobi has come on loads this year but I still don't think he believes he's going to score when he has a chance of a shot.

It happens enough, that unless you’re a corner specialist, it seems like one of those things that just happens sometimes. Annoying though.

We got the qualification, but really it was bound to happen sooner or later. The lacklustre final ball and finishing plus injury to Welbeck and Lichtsteiner make it a bad night for us all in all. Frustrating to watch, may Nani catch his scrotum in a zipper and drop his phone on his face in bed.

That we can take our foot off the gas for the remaining easy games and play Nketiah is the only positive.

Couple of things resolved from tonight game IMO. Withdraw any offer to Wellbeck of a new contract- spends too much time injured to be of any use to the club & Ramsay can go as well. We need cover at the back to replace Monreal, Leichensteiner & cover for Bellerin. Start looking now for long term replacements.

The other thing is the old failings of breaking down real defensive performances by our opponents still persist. Emery has done well but we have a long way to go.

It’s hard to assess whether this was us failing to break a team down, obviously we did fail to break them down, or whether you can say we were missing Özil Lacazette Torreira Bellerin Leno(although that’s a stretch) and they would have made the difference. But I agree there was enough there to get the win and with better final balls and set pieces we would have given ourselves a far better shot at it.

Edit:And Xhaka!

Alas, Smith-Rowe is not yet there, as evidenced from today's game. He could not do much in his midfield role. Part of it was the fouls (unseen by ref, or preference to ignore) from the Sporting players to break up play. The other part is his game did not match his confidence.

Iwobi couldn't carry the team today. With Özil out, He knew it was up to him. He tried but just could not.

Ramsey was playing for a job offer, from elsewhere.

Mkhitaryan was the most effective of the lot, but his final ball isn't.

Aubameyang didn't live up to his "player of the month" level.

Borrowing from an old phrase, "we played with the handbrake on"

https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/ ... g-15391493

from Keown, not me

https://www.caughtoffside.com/2018/11/0 ... -sporting/

what I've been saying for a long time too

he is really a waste of space, and not half as hard working as Alexis