Slavia Prague 0-3 Arsenal: Merino at the double as Dowman makes Champions League history

Match report – Player ratings – Quotes round-up

Arsenal made it four wins from four in the Champions League last night, with a 3-0 win over Slavia Prague. The team had some changes, with a first start for Piero Hincapie, Ethan Nwaneri and Christian Norgaard in midfield and, as expected, Mikel Merino up front due to the ongoing injury issues we have in that area of the pitch.

There was an early shot from Gabriel, volleying not far over from just outside the box, but Slavia had a pop seconds later up the other end. At home, with a vociferous crowd behind them, and a giant up front who seemed to want to fight everyone, they had a decent start to the game. It took us a little time to settle down but once we did, I don’t think we let the game out of our grip at all.

We applied the pressure, won a series of corners, and from one of those we were awarded a penalty. I didn’t notice anything in real-time but VAR spotted a potential hand ball. The ref went to check, Lukas ­Provod’s hand was in an odd position beside his head, and in Europe they tend to punish that kind of thing more severely than they do in the Premier League. Bukayo Saka stepped up to make no mistake from the spot and to put us ahead.

At the other end, the giant tried to claim a penalty when Hincapie was fouled, and when that wasn’t forthcoming he roared into the face of the Ecuadorian international. A kind of intimidation tactic, I guess, but it didn’t work. Gabriel pulled his teammate away to prevent things bubbling over, and early in the second half all that effort was for naught when the Slavia man pulled a muscle (perhaps his vocal cords), and went off.

By that time the lead had been doubled, an early second half strike from Merino made it 2-0. It was nice work down the left from Leandro Trossard, but the Spaniard’s movement and finish was really good. He said afterwards:

The goal itself might seem easy, but the difficult thing is the ten seconds before the goal when you have to position yourself, when you try not to be marked and use those spaces in the right way. I am very happy to have scored those two goals and helped the team.

And speaking about his compatriot afterwards, it was interesting to hear Mikel Arteta say:

My view was always that he had really good timing and the capacity to finish in the box, especially one-touch.

I think it’s clear there are aspects of his game that, as hard as he tries, are never going to be at the level of a natural centre-forward, but in terms of his arrival in the box, and the way he can finish, he’s really got something. It was February 2025 when he came off the bench at Leicester to play up front, and since that game he’s scored 18 goals for club and country. Perhaps it’s too simplistic to say that decision unlocked some latent ability, but regardless, we should be very happy he’s got the finishing ability he has.

It was Merino again to make the game safe. It was not as striking a goal as his first, but he was willing to challenge Declan Rice’s cross in the box, and got there first as the keeper made the kind of mistake that will give him nightmares. 3-0 to Arsenal, and that was the game safe, especially given our defensive record.

We saw a debut from Max Dowman who, at 15 years of age, became the youngest ever player to play in the Champions League. He came on, took people on, got kicked a bit, but got up and didn’t let it bother him. There was also a European debut for Andre Harriman-Annous, and a bit of late drama when the referee awarded a penalty for Slavia for no obvious reason. Ben White and their player both challenged for the ball with high feet, it hit the Slavia player’s arm and he fell to the ground like he’d been shot. Again, after a VAR review, the right decision was made and the award rescinded.

Then, in the last 15 seconds, disaster. We allowed a shot on target! Sure, it was as tame as it gets, an effort blocked by Gabriel required David Raya to make a ‘save’ that any one of us could make, but standards are slipping. We got complacent, Arteta needs to have a word. In seriousness though, it demonstrates how incredibly good we’ve been defensively that that was the best they could muster all night, and possibly the best any team has managed in the last month or so.

Afterwards, Mikel Arteta said of the win:

I’m really happy with the win, four in a row without conceding a goal. A really tough place to come, I told the boys, the game that we had to expect, a team that is super intense, very direct, man-to-man, so very short sequences of play, a lot of fouls, a lot of restarts, very difficult to get any fluency in the match. But if we were patient and emotionally controlled, we were going to have our chances and the way they set up, and we did that. I think the margin at the end looked comfortable, but I don’t think it was a comfortable match at all.

It was scrappy at times, and I know what he’s saying about how it was difficult, but it also felt pretty comfortable to me. Which isn’t to downplay how hard either team worked, it’s just that once we got on top we stayed on top, and it never looked like going any other way. When you consider that Arsenal won this game that well with none of Viktor Gyokeres, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli, Noni Madueke, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Jesus or Martin Zubimendi at their disposal really is a testament to the group we’ve put together.

I will say though, that kind of injury record is a worry, we’re going to need some/most of that quality if we want to win the league, but with one game to go before the Interlull – and hopefully some of those guys back after that – we can take confidence from what we did last night, and hopefully that will be reflected in Saturday’s performance when we visit Sunderland.

Ok, that’s your lot for now. We’ll have a post-game Arsecast for you a bit later on, so stand by for that. Until then, have a good one.

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