Mikel Arteta has already revealed Arsenal will use secret weapon against Sporting CP

Arsenal have completed their preparations for the Europa League round of 16 against Sporting CP. Mikel Arteta’s side go into Thursday night’s game in fine form, with the Gunners currently at the top of the Premier League.

The Europa League season has been equally successful so far, with Arsenal finishing top of their group, avoiding the knockout stage play-offs in which Barcelona were eliminated from the competition by Manchester United. However, Arteta doesn’t take anything for granted.

“It’s going to be a tough game for both teams,” admitted the Spaniard in his post-match press conference. “Both very competitive, we have a very clear vision. A very tough game in this stadium against a team with a lot of tradition, but we want to win.”

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One player who can potentially help Arteta is Fabio Vieira. The 22-year-old knows Sporting CP well from his ties to arch-rivals Porto, whom he joined when he was eight and made over 50 first-team appearances for them.

The Gunners signed Vieira for £34million plus add-ons in the summer but his transition to Premier League life has been far from seamless. Opportunities were limited due to Martin Odegaard’s form as most of his appearances have been in the Europa League.

However, he has featured in the Gunners’ last two Premier League games and hopes to play again at Jose Alvalade Stadium on Thursday night. There were concerns over Vieira’s availability for the Portugal clash as he missed a pre-scheduled press conference, but it has since emerged that he is suffering from an illness and is expected to still be there.

That’s good news for Arteta, who has already admitted he quizzed the Portugal U21 star Ruben Amorim’s site. The former Manchester City manager said: “It was the first thing we did because it’s great to have the knowledge and understanding of someone from the country who knows the manager and the teammates. It’s always very useful and he spoke really high.”