Key stats
- Arsenal have kept a clean sheet in all four of their games, a run of 425 minutes without conceding a goal and more than any other in the UEFA Champions League this season.
- At 15 years and 308 days old, Arsenal's Max Dowman is now the youngest player to feature in Champions League history.
- Mikel Merino is the first Spanish player to score twice in a European match for Arsenal since Lucas Perez struck a hat-trick at Basel in December 2016.
Highlights
Analysis
At 29 years and 135 days, Mikel Merino is the oldest player to score twice in a UEFA Champions League match for Arsenal since Lukas Podolski at Galatasaray in December 2014.
Arsenal were dominant throughout against Slavia Prague, who managed only a single shot on target in the final minutes of the match.
Match report
Slavia manager Jindřich Trpišovský promised blood and thunder from his side against Arsenal, and the raucous Fortuna Arena crowd fed into that in the opening stages.
Arsenal didn’t look overly fazed by the tempo of the game and did go close to opening the scoring within the opening two minutes when Gabriel Magalhães - famed for heading home set-pieces in recent times - unleashed a left-footed volley from the edge of the area which whistled narrowly wide.
Slavia offered some attacking intent in flashes, but it was the Gunners who created the biggest openings, with Bukayo Saka twice stinging the palms of Jakub Markovič midway through the first half.
Mikel Arteta’s men were given a golden chance to take the lead on the half-hour mark when Gabriel’s near-post header was adjudged to have been blocked by the hand of Lukáš Provod.
Referee Aliyar Aghayev missed the initial incident but didn’t hesitate to point to the spot after consulting the pitchside monitor, and Saka made no mistake in arrowing the resulting penalty into the bottom corner.
It was something of a rare open-play goal that doubled Arsenal’s advantage just 36 seconds into the second half.
Leandro Trossard was instrumental in the build-up, planting a perfect cross onto the boot of Mikel Merino six yards from goal, a chance he didn’t pass up as he thundered into the back of the net.
The game was essentially wrapped up at that point given Arsenal’s defensive prowess, but with a raft of injuries and a paper-thin bench, Arteta didn’t have the luxury to make wholesale changes with half an eye on the weekend’s clash with Sunderland.
He did choose to introduce summer signing Eberechi Eze, yet it was two of his starters who combined for the Gunners’ third, as Declan Rice’s delivery looked destined for the arms of Markovič before Merino nipped in and headed home his second goal of the evening.
Arsenal’s focus switched to keeping the ball out of their own goal in the closing stages, and they had to survive a late scare when Aghayev awarded a penalty after Ben White and Lukáš Provod collided in the area. However, after a swift check of the pitchside monitor, and to the relief of everyone of an Arsenal persuasion, he overturned his decision.
Having also introduced 15-year-old Max Dowman, who became the youngest-ever player in UCL history, it was a near perfect night for the Gunners as they temporarily moved to the top of the league phase table.
Slavia, meanwhile, remain winless in the tournament proper this term, and are already on the brink of an early exit.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Mikel Merino (Arsenal)
Post-match comments
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta in his press conference:
"It's a joy to have him (Mikel Moreno). His versatility on the pitch, the things that he can do.
"It's his mindset, it's his leadership, it's the way he is as a person.
"Today we are missing a lot of attacking players and we have to find different solutions. He comes in Champions League and scores two goals."