Arsenal rolled through Slavia Prague en route to a 3-0 win, their 8th-consecutive clean sheet victory and 10th-straight win in all competitions. The Gunners maintain their perfect record in the Champions
League table, too. As was the case against Burnley at the weekend, Arsenal were quite simply too much for their opponent. Slavia Prague had a bright 5-10 minutes to open the match, but once the Gunners settled in, it was one-way traffic.
Bukayo Saka opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Arsenal were awarded a corner by VAR. It was all a bit odd. The Gunners were set to take another corner after it looked as if their previous one had been deflected out by a defender. Usually, you see players clamoring for the decision — not a single Arsenal player asked for a penalty. But VAR spotted that the ball came off Gabriel’s head (I think) then hit a defender’s hand, which was not in a natural position. I’m still not sure if it deflected off the defender’s head / shoulder before hitting his hand, but the up and away from the body placement of the hand was enough. You probably don’t get that call in the Premier League, but as Arsenal learned against Inter Milan last season, the handball law is interpreted differently in Europe.
Saka’s penalty was excellent, by the way. The keeper guessed correctly, but it was hard, low, and into the corner — emphasis on the low part. I can’t say for sure based on the replays we got but had that penalty been off the ground instead of along it, the keeper might have gotten a hand to it.
Arsenal’s 1-0 halftime lead felt a bit precarious because the home side looked bright to start the match, but honestly, it was just another calm and controlled performance. And they put whatever nerves people might have been feeling to bed early in the second half when Leandro Trossard picked out Mikel Merino’s darting run towards the near post a minute into the second half. Strikey Mikey made a deft redirection into the back of the net look easy. It wasn’t. It was, however, really poor defending from Slavia Prague. Their centerback, who was looking down the line at Merino’s back as he made his run, kept drifting back and held the Arsenal man onside. Had he stepped up, the Spaniard would have been flagged offside.
Merino put the match even further out of reach just over twenty minutes later. Declan Rice lofted a ball into the box and after a moment of confusion where Merino, a defender, and the keeper came together it was in the back of Slavia Prague’s net. The replay revealed that a jumping, turning Merino had gotten the back of his head to the ball to direct it home. How much did he know about it? Your guess is as good as mine.
It looked as if Arsenal’s clean sheet run might end late in the match when the referee awarded the home side a penalty, but once again, VAR intervened in Arsenal’s favor. On replay, Ben White’s high kick, which to be fair was matched by the attacker’s high boot, got all of the ball and none of the man. The penalty was overturned and that was that.
A few more odds and ends:
- The last time Arsenal conceded a goal was to Newcastle’s Nick Woltemade in September. It’s now November.
- The 8-match clean sheet streak matches the longest in club history, a mark set in 1903.
- Bukayo Saka’s goal takes his tally to 18 involvements (12g, 6A) in the Champions League in 20 appearances. The goal was his 17th in European competition, moving him into 4th place on the club’s all-time list.
- Max Dowman became the youngest player in Champions League history at 15 years, 308 days. He’s also the first 15-year old to play in the competition.
- 17-year old Andre Harriman-Annous made his CL debut for the club, too. What an excellent week for the lad, made his club debut in the Carabao Cup against Brighton and comes on in the Champions League six days later. But remember, Mikel Arteta hates young players.
- On the other end of the spectrum, Christian Norgaard made the first Champions League appearance of his career. Shortly after his move to Arsenal, the Dane revealed that he thought his childhood dream of playing in the CL might have passed him by before the call came from the Gunners.
- Arsenal fired 8 shots on target against Slavia Prague, matching their high-water mark for the season.
- Arsenal did allow the home side a shot on target. Arteta out.
- Declan Rice avoided picking up a third booking of the League Phase. He avoids a suspension for the Bayern Munich match. For what it’s worth, he probably wants to pick up a caution against either Bayern or Inter, which would force him to miss the Club Brugge or Kairat Almaty matches, respectively. Yellow cards do not reset until after the QF. Arsenal don’t want him at risk of missing a knockout stage match.
The win takes Arsenal to 12 points from 12 on offer in the Champions League. Last season, 10 was enough to qualify for the playoff round. Of course, the Gunners will have their sights set on a top 8 finish to avoid those two extra matches entirely. The perfect record gives the club some wiggle room with difficult CL fixtures coming up, including home to Bayern Munich, which falls between matches against Tottenham and Chelsea in the Premier League, and away to Inter Milan. There is no reason to think that Arsenal can’t get results from those contests, but those are Arsenal’s two Pot One opponents and should be the hardest of the round.
A tricky trip to Sunderland stands between Arsenal and the international break. They should start getting guys back afterwards, which will be a massive boost. They’ve done alright with Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke, and Martin Ødegaard missing significant time, haven’t they? And that’s before you get to Gabriel Martinelli and Viktor Gyokeres’ recent injuries, not to mention Gabriel Jesus being out since tearing his ACL in mid-January.
This team is really, really good folks.
