10 March 2023 , 10:39
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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has conceded that summer signing Fabio Vieira deserves to be playing more regularly after an impressive outing away at Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League.
The Gunners made the trip to Portugal for the first leg of their round-of-16 clash hoping to return to the Emirates with one foot already in the last eight. That did not prove to be the case, as Arsenal were actually forced to come from behind to earn a 2-2 draw to take back to north London.
In truth, it was nowhere near Arsenal at their best, though that is understandable given Arteta made six changes to his starting line-up from the one that beat Bournemouth in dramatic fashion last Saturday. For context, the most amount of changes the Spaniard has made between Premier League fixtures this term is three.
William Saliba put the visitors in front before goals from Goncalo Inacio and Paulinho either side of half-time flipped the tie on its head. Arsenal's blushes were spared when Granit Xhaka's pass deflected off of Hidemasa Morita and into the Sporting net.
While some of those donning red and white had an evening to forget, Vieira was arguably Arsenal's standout performer and even got himself an assist to show for his efforts. It was his perfectly weighted, out-swinging corner that Saliba met with his head for the Gunners' first goal.
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Fabio Vieira's performance against Sporting Lisbon earned him praise from Mikel ArtetaHAVE YOUR SAY! Should Fabio Vieira be starting more games for Arsenal for the rest of the season? Comment below.
The game back in Vieira's home country marked just his 12th start of the season across all competitions, which is a relatively low figure when factoring in how Arsenal parted ways with £35million to sign him from Porto last summer.
His performance against Sporting certainly caught the eye of his manager, who claimed Vieira was Arsenal's "most dangerous player" and admitted the midfielder deserves the chance to strut his stuff on a regular basis.
"I’m really happy with him," Arteta said of the 22-year-old. "I think he deserves more minutes than he’s had, especially in the last two months.
"Obviously, he had a difficult start because he was injured for two months after a surgery and wasn’t at the level that we wanted. But you saw tonight that he was probably our most dangerous player. He was always making things happen. He’s a player that I absolutely love."
Up next for Arsenal is a trip to Fulham on Sunday and if club captain Martin Odegaard doesn't recover from illness in time, Vieira could be thrust into the spotlight once again as the Gunners aim to keep their league momentum going.