It could come down to penalties on Thursday night as Arsenal face Sporting CP with a Europa League quarter-final place at stake.
Following a 2-2 draw in last week's round of 16 first-leg in Portugal, the tie is delicately poised heading into the decider at the Emirates Stadium and with the away goals rule already scrapped by UEFA at the beginning of last season, all signs are pointing towards an entertaining game.
As per UEFA rules, if the scores are level on aggregate after 90 minutes as well as 30 minutes of extra time then a penalty shoot-out determines the team that qualifies for the next stage of the competition and another draw is the only result that would allow for this scenario to come to fruition.
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Under Mikel Arteta, Arsenal are not complete strangers to this particular scenario having won two penalty shootouts against Liverpool in the space of a matter of weeks at the beginning of the 2020/21 season en route to lifting the Community Shield and reaching the Carabao Cup fourth round.
However, the one and only time the Gunners have been involved in a penalty shootout in this competition - when it was named the UEFA Cup before its rebrand - was in the final against Galatasaray almost 23 years ago and it ended in defeat with Davor Suker and Patrick Vieira missing from 12 yards.
Hopefully, history doesn't repeat itself if a shootout is required in north London, but Arteta can perhaps take comfort that in regular play his side have a 100 per cent record from the spot so far this season and he added one of the most reliable penalty takers around to his squad for £12m in the January transfer window.
So, if Thursday night's Europa League round of 16 second leg tie against Sporting CP has to be decided by penalties, who should be the first five that step up for the Gunners given their previous records? Well, football.london's Arsenal writers Tom Canton and Tashan Deniran-Alleyne have their say.
Tom Canton - Arsenal Writer
Right off the bat, the obvious starter should always be your most regular penalty-taker. You do not want the person who has chosen to try to take all the glory of the fifth penalty and see your teammates miss and add pressure; you need to step up and start strong for the squad and therefore regular takers Bukayo Saka and Jorginho kick things off (I am assuming you can bring the Italian on at the end of extra time if he's not on already).
Then the theories begin. For me, a good penalty taker is someone who can put the ball as accurately as possible into the back of net into places a goalkeeper simply cannot reach. Therefore these players need to be good passers and Granit Xhaka, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Martin Odegaard are the obvious choices.
In a sudden death scenario, the above methodology continues with triple Fulham assister Leandro Trossard being the man to continue followed by other fellow strong passers such as Fabio Vieira, William Saliba and Ben White.
Canton's Arsenal penalty takers vs Sporting CP (in order): 1. Bukayo Saka, 2. Jorginho, 3. Granit Xhaka, 4. Oleksandr Zinchenko, 5. Martin Odegaard
Sudden death pick: Leandro Trossard
Tashan Deniran-Alleyne - Arsenal Writer
If Lionel Messi and Neymar taught us anything at the World Cup, it's that the best penalty-takers should be stepping up first to get the team off to a good start. So taking that into consideration, Bukayo Saka and Jorginho (if they're on the pitch) should be one and two, although I wouldn't be against them changing the order.
Then I'm picking Reiss Nelson. This might be somewhat of a surprise but he did successfully convert his penalty in the aforementioned Community Shield shootout win for Arsenal against Liverpool and the fact he stepped up first that afternoon is proof he'd be comfortable at number three.
Gabriel Martinelli has an Arsenal goal in a penalty shootout on his resume, although as he might not even be on the pitch at the end of extra time, I would opt for Fabio Vieira at four given he has scored 16 in his career to date and then Gabriel Jesus at five to hopefully seal the victory.
In a sudden-death scenario where the next taker must score to potentially keep the Gunners in the game, but preferably to win the tie, I'm looking for someone to step up and smash his penalty right down the middle and the honour would have to fall upon Kieran Tierney.
Deniran-Alleyne's Arsenal penalty takers vs Sporting CP (in order): 1. Bukayo Saka, 2. Jorginho, 3. Reiss Nelson, 4. Fabio Vieira, 5. Gabriel Jesus
Sudden death pick: Kieran Tierney
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