Arsenal take on the visitors Porto in the second leg of UEFA Champions League 1/8-finals. First leg result: 0-1. The match will be played on Tuesday, February 12th at Emirates Stadium (London).
Arsenal right now, in the first part of spring, will largely determine how successful their season will be. In the next round of the Premier League, they will face Manchester City. They competed head-to-head last season, losing the lead due to a slump towards the end. Then they took revenge by winning in the country's Super Cup, albeit on penalties, and in the first round of the new Premier League campaign. However, it can already be said that under Arteta's guidance, they have at least maintained the level they reached in 2023 and can once again be considered a genuine, rather than nominally historical, giant. This is despite the fact that the English side finally returned to the Champions League. They looked decent there, winning their group. But in February, as often happens with Arteta, he again overthought things, opting for a very cautious and pragmatic style of play for the away game in Portugal. As a result, they rightfully conceded a late 0-1 goal to the opponent, combined with the need to win now and preferably not by a minimum margin.
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Porto can only really save their reputation in this tournament. The Dragons have won the Primeira Liga strictly every other year in recent years. The last time was in 2022, and even when the title was taken away by Benfica, it was perceived calmly, as if it were planned. At least Sergio Conceicao kept his coaching position. But now it's already obvious that the giant has not only failed to catch up with the eagles but has also fallen behind Sporting. The likelihood that over the spring both giants from Lisbon will lose so many points is openly approaching zero. No, there is still the cup, but a truly successful football year can be achieved with a good performance in the Champions League. In the group stage, the Portuguese were clearly the second: they lost both matches to the favorite, Barcelona, but at the same time achieved a perfect result against both Antwerp and Shakhtar, confidently defeating the latter in the 6th round, in a direct contest for 2nd place. And even against the English giant in February, they squeezed out almost the maximum possible. The question is whether even this 1-0 will be enough for overall success in the end.
Considering the February 1-0 results, the Portuguese have achieved equality with the English: now the teams have won three times against each other in the Champions League with only one draw. But all the success of the dragons came in the last 4 matches. The English will try to justify their status as clear favorites and seek revenge. But the experienced visitors will clearly come for a 0-0 draw. Let's bet on total under 3.0 goals.
Prediction for the match: Under 3.0 scored goals.
