Sporting are a club in crisis. Having recently sacked their manager they almost certainly saw this game at Arsenal as a chance for them to recover some of their tarnished pride and for what is in essence a poor side, Sporting actually dug in well, defended in numbers and made it a difficult evening for Arsenal. They were helped in no short measure by a very average referee who ignored a succession of Sporting fouls, that broke up any rhythm Arsenal tried to build. I lost count of the times that an Arsenal man was pushed over or tripped with no reaction from the officials. It was very poor night for them. Cech had a fairly comfortable 90 minutes thanks to the poor quality of Sporting in an...
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