Why Fabio Vieira can play huge role for Arsenal in Europa League last-16 tie against Sporting CP

Fabio Vieira will no doubt have been over the moon to learn Arsenal will meet Sporting CP in the Europa League round of 16. A former player for Porto, one of Sporting’s great rivals in Portugal, Vieira has been involved in several meetings of great importance between the two sides and will therefore likely know exactly what to expect from the Lisbon-based side.

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.

From his 10 starts in four different competitions, the 22-year-old has scored two goals and three assists. In Odegaard’s only league absence, Vieira took the lead with a wonderful goal against Brentford and his two assists against Oxford helped the Gunners into the FA Cup fourth round.

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Odegaard went on to have a stellar scoring streak after the World Cup, playing five out of six 90 minutes before being substituted on for Vieira in the 79th minute against Everton. That plan ultimately didn’t pay off, but a slightly different version of it was executed against Aston Villa last weekend.

Instead of the Arsenal captain being substituted, Granit Xhaka was withdrawn for Vieira, with the Portugal international given 11 minutes plus injury time to influence the game. In a deeper role, Vieira looked solid and after Jorginho forced an Emi Martinez own goal, Vieira delivered the perfect pass for Gabriel Martinelli to score and give Arsenal a 4-2 win.

That assist and his brilliant cameo will surely give Mikel Arteta confidence that he can be trusted in big situations in the future and that the next opportunity could come against Sporting. When he played for Porto last season, Vieira put in a strong performance against where he scored two goals.

Following the Europa League draw, a compilation of a previous performance against Sporting was posted to Reddit by Vieira. In a crucial Primera Liga game, Porto were two goals down after 34 minutes, but Vieira soon called the shots, driving home from the edge of the box just before half-time to put Porto back in the game.