Slaying every domestic and continental foe in their path right now, Arsenal aim to maintain their 100% Champions League record in Tuesday’s league-phase match away to Slavia Prague.
The Gunners slaughtered Atletico Madrid 4-0 on matchday three of the competition, whereas the Czech side claimed a creditable goalless draw with Atalanta BC.
Match preview
Unlucky for some, 13 was very much the lucky number for Arsenal during the visit of Atletico to the Emirates Stadium, where Mikel Arteta‘s merciless men put four goals past Diego Simeone’s beleaguered defence in a 13-minute flurry.
A customary Gabriel Magalhaes set-piece goal set the wheels in motion before a Gabriel Martinelli finish and Viktor Gyokeres brace completed the North London rout, which kept Arsenal perfect points-wise and goals conceded-wise in the league phase.
One of just two sides yet to concede in the tournament alongside Inter Milan, Arsenal only find themselves behind the Nerazzurri, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain in fourth place in the league phase table – a standing that would more than suffice for automatic progression to the last 16.
Seldom tested in the early phases of the Champions League under Arteta, the visitors have now won each of their last seven league-phase matches and travel to Prague unbeaten in all of their 10 games against Czech teams in UEFA tournaments, winning eight of them.
The Spaniard’s winning machine continues to work at full throttle in the Premier League too – Saturday’s 2-0 victory at Burnley marked a ninth win in a row, a seventh clean sheet on the spin and increased their already healthy lead at the summit of the standings.
A Premier League and Champions League double appears highly realistic for an unbreakable Arsenal outfit, although Slavia Prague’s European aspirations are far more modest as they chase a first league-phase win of the new term.
Jindrich Trpisovsky‘s troops have collected just two points from their three fixtures so far, sharing the honours in a four-goal thriller with Bodo/Glimt, falling to a comprehensive 3-0 loss to Inter Milan and most recently taking a hard-earned point away from Bergamo.
Slavia and Atalanta were both not short of opportunities to break the deadlock on matchday three, but the goalkeepers earned their keep in one of the more entertaining goalless stalemates the Champions League will see this season.
The hosts’ two-point haul is only good enough for 28th place in the 36-team rankings, but that aforementioned loss to Inter represents their only defeat in any tournament this season, and they have taken a leaf out of Arsenal’s defensive book recently.
Indeed, Slavia Prague have kept five straight clean sheets across all competitions in their last five games, most recently cruising to a 2-0 Czech 1. Liga win over Banik Ostrava to reclaim top spot over fierce rivals Sparta Prague.
At the other end, Trpisovsky’s men have only failed to score in one of their last 27 European home games, but none of their previous four meetings with Arsenal has ended in victory – they were most recently torn apart 4-0 in the second leg of the 2020-21 Europa League quarter-finals.
Slavia Prague Champions League form:
Slavia Prague form (all competitions):
- D
- D
- D
- D
- W
- W
Arsenal Champions League form:
Arsenal form (all competitions):
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
Team News
A familiar and frustrating tale for Gooners, Arteta’s men did not emerge from their victory at Burnley unscathed, as Martin Zubimendi and Viktor Gyokeres were both substituted with injuries at Turf Moor.
The seriousness of their concerns have not yet been revealed, but Zubimendi was guaranteed to sit this one out anyway, as the Spaniard is serving a UCL ban for an accumulation of yellow cards.
Christian Norgaard should therefore make a first-ever start in the Champions League, as fellow midfielder Mikel Merino may once again be shoe-horned into a centre-forward role to cover for the stricken Gyokeres.
Muscle victim Martinelli – who has scored in every Champions League game so far this season – is also expected to sit this one out, as will Martin Odegaard (knee), Noni Madueke (knee), Gabriel Jesus (knee) and Kai Havertz (knee).
As for Slavia Prague, Trpisovsky is working with a depleted squad for Tuesday’s clash, as Ivan Schranz (muscle), Filip Horsky (ACL), Petr Sevcik (ACL), Dominik Javorcek (knee), Tomas Holes (knee), Igoh Ogbu (hamstring) and captain Jan Boril (unspecified) are all out of contention.
With Boril stricken, creative focal point Lukas Provod will don the armband from the number 10 role, while former Luton Town defender Daiki Hashioka is likely to be among the substitutes.
Slavia Prague possible starting lineup:
Markovic; Zima, Chaloupek, Vlceck; Moses, Oscar, Zafeiris, Mbodji; Provod; Chory, Chytil
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Raya; White, Saliba, Hincapie, Lewis-Skelly; Eze, Norgaard, Rice; Saka, Merino, Trossard
We say: Slavia Prague 0-3 Arsenal
Even with Zubimendi out, Gyokeres a doubt and a handful of changes likely, Arsenal’s well-documented strength in depth means that any XI Arteta puts out should get the job done with minimal fuss.
Slavia’s recent defensive dominance will likely prove futile – especially if the visitors can generate a good volume of set-pieces – and Arsenal will surely make it four from four in this season’s Champions League.
Slavia Prague vs Arsenal – prediction, team news, lineups,
Champions League | League Stage,
04 November 2025
