Slavia Prague 1-2 Arsenal · Champions League, league phase · Fortuna Arena · 4 November 2026
Six changes from Anfield, two goals in the first thirty-eight minutes, and then a second half that nobody at Arsenal will want to watch again. Three points, and Arteta spent the press conference talking about everything else.
Thirty-Eight Minutes of the Good Version
Noni Madueke scored on nine, put through by Viktor Gyökeres. Gyökeres got the second himself on thirty-eight, finishing a Mikel Merino pass. A goal and an assist on only his sixth start of the season, and his first Champions League goal from open play since Kairat Almaty back in January.
Arteta's view was that it should have been more than two:
"Two very different halves."
He thought three or four were there in the first half. On this evidence he was right, and the margin mattered later.
Then an Hour of Hanging On
The numbers from this one are not the numbers of a comfortable away win. Slavia had eighteen shots to Arsenal's twelve, six on target to five, and finished with the higher expected goals: 2.11 to 1.49. Arsenal had 56% of the ball and did very little with it after the break.
Gabriel cleared an Ange N'Guessan header off the goalline. David Raya went full stretch to push a Kubiak header onto the post. Wiktor Nowak finally got Slavia a goal on ninety, from a David Jurasek cross, and by then it had been coming for a long time.
Arteta Does Not Pretend
"Right at the start of the second half we were on the back foot, very sloppy and gave balls away. Then we had to suffer. A lot to learn."
"Extremely far from our standards in everything that we have to do."
And on the goalkeeper, which is the line that tells you how the hour went:
"He had to show his quality again, much more than we expected."
Where That Leaves Us
Third in the league phase, three wins from four. Six changes from the side that won at Anfield, so a lot of this was a squad being asked a question and only half answering it.
Hull at home on Saturday.
Man of the Match: Viktor Gyökeres 🇸🇪
A goal and an assist on a rare start, which is the only reason there was anything to hold on to. Raya has a real claim on this, and Arteta as good as gave it to him.
Image Credits https://www.arsenal.com/news/gallery-44-crackers-from-prague-a03NS4N9aLgu