Porto hope home record delivers winning tune

FC Porto will draw confidence from a proud unbeaten home record against English opposition as they seek the victory against Arsenal FC that would send them into the UEFA Champions League first knockout round as group winners.

• Group G's top two teams both secured their places in the last 16 on Matchday 5 and the only question left to resolve in this final fixture is whether it will be Arsenal, two points clear at the summit, or Porto who advance in first place.

• Jesualdo Ferreira's hosts must win to leapfrog the leaders, for whom a draw will suffice. History suggests that latter outcome is the most likely given that six of Porto's ten previous home contests with English opposition have finished all-square, including the last three.

• Both teams took three points last time out, Porto winning 2-1 at Fenerbahçe SK through two Lisandro goals (19, 28) and Arsenal beating FC Dynamo Kyiv thanks to a solitary Nicklas Bendtner strike with three minutes remaining.

• On Matchday 1, Porto defeated Fenerbahçe, 3-1 at home, while Arsenal needed another late goal against Dynamo, on this occasion to rescue a 1-1 draw. Porto then traded wins with the Ukrainian club while Arsenal took four points off Fenerbahçe in the sides' back-to-back meetings, including an impressive 5-2 win in Istanbul.

• Arsenal, one of nine clubs still unbeaten in the competition, were comprehensive winners when the teams met in London on 30 September, Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor both scoring twice in a 4-0 victory.

• Yet Porto are a different prospect on home soil, particularly against English opposition. In the last five years, all four of England's leading clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC and Manchester United FC – have come away from this corner of Portugal without a victory.

• The most recent English visitors to the Estádio do Dragão were Liverpool, who drew 1-1 in last season's group stage, Lucho and Dirk Kuyt exchanging first-half goals.

• Arsenal's only previous visit came in the 2006/07 group stage when, as now, both sides progressed to the knockout phase. Arsène Wenger's men finished ahead of Porto after a 2-0 home victory and goalless draw in Portugal.

• The full lineups for that second encounter on 6 December 2006 were:
Porto: Helton, José Bosingwa, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Fucile, Lucho, Paulo Assunção, Raul Meireles (Ibson), Lisandro, Ricardo Quaresma, Hélder Postiga (Bruno Moraes).
Arsenal: Jens Lehmann, Emmanuel Eboué, Kolo Touré, Johan Djourou, Gaël Clichy, Aleksandr Hleb, Gilberto, Mathieu Flamini, Fredrik Ljungberg, Cesc Fàbregas, Emmanuel Adebayor (Robin van Persie).

• Prior to those meetings, Arsenal had faced Portuguese opposition only once before in UEFA club competition, when they exited the European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1991/92 at the hands of SL Benfica. After a 1-1 draw in Lisbon, the Gunners suffered a 3-1 extra-time loss in the deciding leg of that second-round tie.

• Arsenal manager Wenger failed to win in Portugal with former club AS Monaco FC. The French outfit were held 1-1 by CF Os Belenenses in the first round of the 1989/90 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, although they did subsequently win the return leg 3-0.

• Arsenal's Samir Nasri was in the Olympique de Marseille side defeated 2-1 at Porto in the group stage of the 2007/08 tournament. Defender William Gallas suffered an identical reverse with former club Chelsea when they visited Porto in the 2004/05 group stage.

• The draw for the UEFA Champions League first knockout round will take place at 12.00CET on Friday 19 December at UEFA's headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. Group winners will be paired against runners-up from different sections with the second-placed teams playing the first leg at home. Clubs from the same associations cannot be drawn together.