Arsenal’s quadruple hunt was halved in the space of a week, and their UEFA Champions League hopes were given a stern test by a Sporting Lisbon side that only just squeezed past Bodo/Glimt to reach the competition’s quarterfinals.Sporting, who had to come from 3-0 down following the first leg against Norway’s Bodo, are seven points off leaders Porto in the Portuguese top flight, but were more than a match for the English Premier League leaders in Lisbon on Tuesday, with only a late Kai Havertz strike separating the sides.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listThe 1-0 win favours Mikel Arteta’s side ahead of the second leg in London next week, but it was another game that left the Gunners with as many questions as answers.Back-to-back defeats leading into the game – in the League Cup final against Manchester City and the FA Cup quarterfinals against second-tier Southampton – have left Arteta’s team in danger of a late-season slump.Having finished third in the Premier League for the last three seasons, their chances of dropping the “nearly men” tag look good this year.They hold a nine-point lead at the top of the English table, with seven games to play, although Pep Guardiola’s City in second do have a game in hand.Even substitute Havertz’s injury-time winner in Lisbon, however, could not paper over the cracks of another troubled …
