UEFA Europa League
Result: Arsenal 0-0 Sporting Lisbon
Date: 08 November 2018
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Arsenal advanced to the last 32 in the UEFA Europa League, despite playing to a goalless draw against Sporting Lisbon in a game where two of their stars suffered injuries.
The Gunners went agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock after 17 minutes when Danny Welbeck saw his neat flick cleared off the line by Sebastian Coates.
However, that was to be Welbeck's final serious involvement in the game as the Gunners striker was stretchered off after 30 minutes after sustaining a leg injury.
The injury to Welbeck seemed to have dampened the spirits around the ground, which certainly had an effect on the encounter as neither side carve out a serious opening.
That proved to be the trend for the rest of the half as the sides went into the halftime break level pegging.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who replaced Welbeck in the first half, should have broken the deadlock for Arsenal after 58 minutes after being picked out by Alex Iwobi, but the Gabonese forward sliced his effort wide of the mark.
The hosts were hit by another injury in the 73rd minute when defender Stephan Lichtsteiner picked up an injury and was replaced by Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
Another chance fell for the Gunners with eight minutes remaining when Sead Kolasinac did well to pick out Aubameyang, who saw his effort blocked from point-blank range.
The visitors were then reduced to ten men four minutes later when Jeremy Mathieu was shown a straight red card for bringing down Aubameyang, who was through on goal.
The Gunners struggled to bypass the Sporting defence in the closing and were forced to settle for a share of the spoils.
Other results:
Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 Zurich Ludogorets 0-0 AEK Larnaca Rosenborg 2-5 Salzburg Celtic 2-1 RB Leipzig Slavia Praha 0-0 FC Copenhagen Bordeaux 1-1 Zenit Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 Spartak Trnava Vorsla 0-1 Qarabag Real Betis 1-1 Milan Olympiakos 5-1 Dudelange
