Fabio Vieira will have been undoubtedly overjoyed when he learned that Arsenal will be facing Sporting CP in the Europa League round of 16. As a former player of Porto, one of Sporting's great rivals in Portugal, Vieira has been involved in several clashes of high importance between the two teams 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 into life in the Premier League has been far from seamless. Opportunities have been limited due to the form of Martin Odegaard, with most of his appearances arriving in the Europa League.
From his 10 starting displays in four different competitions, the 22-year-old has managed two goals and three assists. In Odegaard's only league absence, Vieira stepped up to the plate with a delightful goal against Brentford and his two assists against Oxford helped the Gunners into the fourth round of the FA Cup.
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A scintillating run of goal scoring form for Odegaard after the World Cup saw him complete 90 minutes on five out of six occasions before he was subbed off in the 79th minute against Everton for Vieira. That plan did not pay off ultimately, however a slightly different version of it was executed last weekend against Aston Villa.
Instead of the Arsenal captain being subbed off, Granit Xhaka was withdrawn for Vieira with the Portugal international given 11 minutes plus stoppage time to impact the game. In a deeper role, Vieira looked solid and after Jorginho forced an own goal from Emi Martinez, Vieira provided the perfect pass for Gabriel Martinelli to score and give Arsenal a 4-2 victory.
That assist and his bright cameo will certainly give Mikel Arteta confidence he can trust him in big situations in the future and that next opportunity may come against Sporting. When playing for Porto last season, Vieira put in a massive performance against where he secured two goal contributions.
Following the Europa League draw a compilation of a previous performance against Sporting from Vieira was posted to Reddit. In a crucial Primera Liga fixture, Porto found themselves two goals down after 34 minutes but Vieira soon had a say on the game driving home from the edge of the box just before half time to bring Porto back into the game.
In the second half, pushed out wide with just over ten minutes to go, Vieira delivered a pinpoint cross that was headed in by Mehdi Taremi to level the game.
Following his performance at Villa Park, Vieira could get more minutes in the Premier League, and he will be hoping for a start against Sporting with the first leg set for Thursday, March 9 having already showcased what he can do against the Portuguese outfit.
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