Fourteen, in case you were wondering. Arsenal’s longest winning run across all competitions stretched to an imposing 14 games in 1987, beginning with a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest thanks to a goal from Alan Smith, and ending just over two months later with a shock loss to Southampton.
This latest victory — a 1-0 win over Sporting so tedious it will have had the neutrals switching over to Qarabag vs Vorskla — takes Unai Emery’s side to within three games of that piece of history. They are just two away from Arsène Wenger’s record run. Crystal Palace and Blackpool are up next, before the potentially season-defining visit of Liverpool.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This was a different kind of test for Arsenal, coming just three days after their thrilling 3-1 comeback win over Leicester. In that match they proved they still have an eye for some of the most mesmerising attacking play seen in the Premier League. Here, they proved they have also learned how to grind out results, scoring late on through Danny Welbeck to all but guarantee progression to the Europa League knockout stages.
In doing so, they become the first team to beat Sporting in their own back-yard since Barcelona over a year ago.
Sporting vs Arsenal
1/11 Bernd Leno – 7
2/11 Stephan Lichtsteiner – 7
3/11 Sokratis Papastathopoulos – 6
4/11 Rob Holding – 6
5/11 Granit Xhaka – 5
6/11 Aaron Ramsey – 7
7/11 Matteo Guendouzi – 7
8/11 Mohamed Elneny – 6
9/11 Henrikh Mkhitaryan – 6
10/11 Danny Welbeck – 8
11/11 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 7
1/11 Bernd Leno – 7
2/11 Stephan Lichtsteiner – 7
3/11 Sokratis Papastathopoulos – 6
4/11 Rob Holding – 6
5/11 Granit Xhaka – 5
6/11 Aaron Ramsey – 7
7/11 Matteo Guendouzi – 7
8/11 Mohamed Elneny – 6
9/11 Henrikh Mkhitaryan – 6
10/11 Danny Welbeck – 8
11/11 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 7
This lethargic, error-strewn contest also proved just how exceptionally important Lucas Torreira has made himself to Emery’s Arsenal in such a short period of time. And if Mesut Ozil is Arsenal’s irrepressible master conductor, then Torreira is the orchestra’s unassuming sound guy. Always lingering just out of the spotlight’s glare, darting around in the shadows to keep everything functional, orderly, in time.
The match changed completely when he was thrown on by Emery fifteen minutes into the second-half, with Arsenal struggling to get any real foothold in the game. He immediately began setting the rhythm in the middle of the park as Arsenal grew in confidence, and even briefly threatened to steal centre stage for himself when he bent a low free-kick towards goal, drawing a smart save from the impressive Renan Ribeiro.
Instead, he wisely left it to Welbeck to play the front man. The forward took his goal well after a difficult match in Lisbon’s late afternoon sun, in which he was often left isolated and frustrated out on the left. But he bided his time and retained the presence of mind to pounce on Sebastian Coates late into the day, latching onto the former Liverpool defender’s botched interception and cooly slotting the ball between Ribeiro’s legs.
How the England international has grown to love this competition. Having also sent Arsenal through against Milan last season, his goal leaves the side in an excellent position to top their group and so avoid a Champions League cast-off in the knockout round.
To lose the game so late into the second-half was cruel on Sporting, although after enjoying the better of an awful first-half starved of chances and entertainment, they noticeably wilted after the break. Former Manchester United man Nani perhaps had the best effort: refraining from his usual indulgence of a slew of utterly superfluous lollipops to belt a fierce drive narrowly over.
The temperature only really began to rise when Sokratis Papastathopoulos — looking unusually sluggish upon his return from an injury picked up on international duty — bundled over Fredy Montero after misjudging a long ball over the top. Montero was incensed; Slovenian referee Damir Skomina waved away his appeals to the disgust of the home crowd.
Just moments later Stephan Lichtsteiner got away with a similar challenge on Nani, with the disgusted whistles of the home crowd lingering long into half-time.
“It’s been a slow burner in Lisbon,” was the official Arsenal Twitter account’s generous verdict. “That’s 45-minutes of my life that I will never get back, cheers,” came the rather more fitting reply.
Things could only get better and Arsenal at least showed signs of rousing themselves from their slumber at the start of the second-half. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang did well to dart behind Sporting’s defence only for his casual chip on goal to be clawed away by the impressive Ribeiro, while just moments later Welbeck saw a close range stab at goal deflected wide.
Little matter: within minutes Torreira was thrown on as Arsenal finally seized control of the game. And, with less than fifteen minutes, Welbeck pounced to ensure Arsenal keep marching on.
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