Arsenal line-ups vs Sporting decided with Max Dowman call and eight changes made

football.london reporters pick their Arsenal XIs for the Champions League quarter-final trip to Sporting CP

Arsenal's trip to Sporting CP feels huge for so many reasons on the back of two poor domestic cup defeats to Manchester City and Southampton.

Not only that but Mikel Arteta's side are facing a Sporting team that has lost just once in 27 Portuguese league fixtures and they're still bouncing following that dramatic comeback against Bodo/Glimt.

The positive news is Arsenal won convincingly in Lisbon last season and that will give them confidence, even though they could yet be without Bukayo Saka, Ebere Eze, Jurrien Timber and Piero Hincapie.football.london reporters Tom Canton and Ryan Taylor have selected their Arsenal starting XIs under the assumption Declan Rice, Gabriel Magalhaes and Leandro Trossard will be fit following their returns to training.

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Tom Canton - Chief Arsenal Reporter

With the information gleamed from the open training session, there appear to be several players returning to the squad. After the disappointment of the last two weeks there is definitely a focus on trying to go strong in all the remaining games this season.

Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard have been spotted in training. Big Gabi as well returned but I’d be hesitant to start him after his issue and rest him for the weekend.

Viktor Gyokeres returns to face his former club and will surely be subjected to some boos after how he left. After scoring his 17th goal of the season, there are hopes this could be the beginning of a real run of form.

The return of David Raya is the biggest for me though and I look forward to seeing his influence level up this team from the previous two performances.Canton's Arsenal XI vs Sporting CP: Raya, White, Saliba, Mosquera, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Madueke, Gyokeres, Trossard

Ryan Taylor

I'd go slightly different to Tom as I feel Ben White has played a lot of football of late and also struggled at Southampton.

Keeping Sporting CP at bay is key and I'd slot Cristhian Mosquera in at right-back, where he filled in against Everton, with William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori completing the back-four.

In midfield, I think the line-up picks itself with Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard starting their first game together since the 3-2 defeat to Manchester United in January.

I'd actually throw Max Dowman in on the right, Noni Madueke has flattered to deceive in recent times and he was also donning wrist tape and a knee bandage bandage in training, suggesting he's still nursing two separate issues.

I'd bring Leandro Trossard back in on the left with Viktor Gyokeres leading the line in attack.Taylor's Arsenal XI vs Sporting CP: Raya; Mosquera, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard; Dowman, Gyokeres, Trossard