Kai Havertz snatched a last-gasp winner as Arsenal bounced back from their domestic distress to steal a 1-0 victory at Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday. Mikel Arteta's side arrived at the Jose Alvalade Stadium rocked by successive defeats against Manchester City in the League Cup final and Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-finals. Once again, the Gunners were below their best but they emerged with the win thanks to David Raya's fine saves and Havertz's clinical finish in stoppage-time. 

Arsenal will be firm favourites to advance to the semi-finals in the second leg in north London on April 15, but they will have to improve significantly to win the tournament for the first time. Those agonising losses to City and second-tier Southampton marked the first time that Arsenal had been beaten in successive matches this term, with the embarrassing FA Cup defeat just the Gunners' fifth of the season. The after-shocks were still being felt as Arsenal struggled to find any momentum in Lisbon, but not for the first time this season they found a way to win ugly. "We had to be a little bit crisper, faster, more efficient to break them down when they had that block," Arteta said.