Mikel Arteta has a new undroppable as Arsenal face Sporting showdown | OneFootball

Gunners turn to man for big occasion to drag them through rockiest spell of season

Viktor Gyokeres is a rarity in this current Arsenal side.

Gabriel Martinelli has scored two goals in his last 19 appearances, against Kairat and Wigan. Kai Havertz's penalty against Bayer Leverkusen is his only goal since early February.

Leandro Trossard has not scored in 18 matches, Bukayo Saka - out tonight with injury - has two in 24 games, and Noni Madueke's four goals since early December have come against Leeds, Brentford, Wigan and Mansfield.

Gyokeres has six goals in his last six games for Arsenal and Sweden

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This is a forward line that has stumbled its way through much of the season and that is one of the factors that has started to catch up on Arsenal.

When the team struggled in recent cup defeats to Manchester City and Southampton, there was no player able to step up and produce a moment out of nothing to salvage the situation.

Gyokeres tried his best against Southampton, coming off the bench and scoring within seven minutes, and Arsenal desperately need their striker to drag them through their rockiest spell of the season.

The campaign is on a knife-edge after the last two matches and Arsenal now face a Sporting side that have won all five of their home matches in the Champions League this season by an aggregate score of 16-3.

Gyokeres will make his return to familiar territory, taking on the side he left in the summer to join Arsenal.

The 27-year-old failed to turn up to pre-season and refused to train to get that move forced through, but Sporting boss Rui Borges is adamant Gyokeres will receive a warm reception.

"He is a great player, and I am sure he will be welcomed by everyone because he marked the history of Sporting, and he deserves this acknowledgement," Borges said.

Gyokeres is unlikely to be impacted one way or the other. He is known for being incredibly level-headed, outwardly displaying very little emotion in either direction.

There is also very recent evidence of Gyokeres stepping up when it matters most, when the stakes are at their highest and his side's needs at their greatest.

He scored a hat-trick to get Sweden to a World Cup play-off final and then a last-gasp winner to book their spot in the tournament.

Gyokeres scored big goals to send Sweden to the World Cup

AFP via Getty Images

If he can carry the weight of a country's expectations on his shoulders, Arteta will be hoping the responsibility for getting Arsenal firing again is a far easier load to bear.

"Those are experiences that you put in your veins, I would say," Arteta said.

"It doesn't get much better than putting your country into a World Cup with a goal that you scored.

"That's still there and that's going to be there for the rest of his career, like all the moments that he had here, the moments that he's creating for us."

Arsenal would dearly love one of those moments now. In isolation a draw or even a narrow first-leg defeat to Sporting would not be a bad result to take back to north London in terms of the quarter-final tie.

However, the performance and result in Lisbon is so pivotal for what comes next for Arsenal's season. Go into Saturday's Premier League clash with Bournemouth on the back of three straight defeats and the pressure will be almost suffocating.

Borges described Arsenal as a "wounded beast" at his pre-match press conference. He suggested the two recent defeats will make things "more difficult" for Sporting, with the Gunners now "more willing to show their collective and individual capacity".

Gyokeres, though, is better placed than most in the Arsenal squad to land some blows of his own. Sweden reaped the rewards of his unwavering belief and unquenchable thirst for goals. Arsenal need the same.