Arsenal had to come from behind once again as they drew 2-2 in their Europa League round of 16 first-leg clash against Sporting CP. The Gunners were hoping to return to Emirates Stadium with a healthy advantage ahead of next week's second-leg in north London.
The Portuguese outfit enjoyed a better start to the game before William Saliba's towering header from a corner opened the scoring for Mikel Arteta's side. The Arsenal boss had opted to rotate his squad with Matt Turner, Jakob Kiwior, Fabio Vieira and Reiss Nelson all starting.
Martin Odegaard, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard were all left out of the matchday squad with Arteta including a number of talented youngsters amongst the substitutes. Sporting took a 2-1 lead before Granit Xhaka's deflected cross was turned into the back of the Sporting net, with both teams level heading into the second-leg.
