{"id":12202,"date":"2025-11-04T22:51:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T22:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12202"},"modified":"2025-11-07T18:49:53","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T18:49:53","slug":"slavia-prague-czech-mated-by-gunners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12202","title":{"rendered":"Slavia Prague Czech Mated By Gunners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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And so it was to the Fortuna Arena in Prague – also apparently known as the Eden Arena – for our fourth Champions League fixture of the season against Slavia Praha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal had received an allocation of 1,024 tickets for this fixture which sold out to those Platinum, Gold and Travel Club members with 50+ points. All tickets were to be collected in Prague and fans had to take, quote, \u201ctheir physical passports, please note that copies or other forms of ID will not be accepted and tickets cannot be collected by third parties.\u201d So they didn\u2019t make it easy for the travelling Gooners but there they were, as usual, belting out their support for a team riding high in third place on goal difference in the league table at the start of play, which was early at 5.45pm UK time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team showed four changes from the weekend, to protect players in our latest injury crisis, bearing in mind a trip away to Sunderland this weekend before the next Interlull which, for once, might come as a welcome relief and a chance to get some attacking players fit again. Declan Rice was included which was possibly a surprise given his vulnerability on a yellow card with Bayern up next. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We lined up as: 
Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hinkapi\u00e9; Rice, N\u00f8rgaard, Nwaneri; Saka, Merino, Trossard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slavia came into this game off the back of a 2-0 win against Banik Ostrava at the weekend and they sit joint top of their league with Spartak on 30 points from 14 matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For their part, Arsenal had now won seven games in a row without conceding, matching George Graham’s team in 1987, who went the same number of matches without allowing the opposition to score, whilst winning. Were we to beat Slavia Prague and keep another clean sheet, it would equal the club record of successive wins without conceding – set in 1903, 122 years ago. No pressure then fellas !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First half<\/strong>
Arsenal pushed forwards from the kick off and an early move saw Gabriel fire over the bar – with foot rather than head though. Slavia\u2019s centre forward, Chor\u00fd, was a 6\u20196\u201d giant who had clearly been eating everyone else\u2019s porridge, and he led their early intense and aggressive challenging which made it difficult for Arsenal to establish their normal control and get their passing going. Gabriel was worryingly back in the thick of it after 18 minutes but what looked like a concussion check turned out to be a boxing style repair to a bang in the face as a dab of Vaseline was applied to his right cheek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Midway through a tricky half, the Arsenal won a series of five corners – Set Piece FC, we\u2019re loving it – the last of which was hand-balled over the bar by the defender, Provod. The referee, having initially awarded another corner, was called to the screen by VAR and corrected his call to a penalty. The spot kick was dispatched to the right corner by Bukayo Saka and the travelling Gooners celebrated inaudibly in the corner, drowned out by Czech protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Slavia Prague 0 – 1 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Slavia players seemed to have bravely marked out little Leo Trossard for a bit of treatment in retribution while wasting no opportunity to throw themselves on the floor at the merest touch. Big Daddy Bear Chor\u00fd tried to win a penalty by doing exactly that but was sent on his way by the Azerbaijani official, Mr Aliyar Agheyev, who was having a very decent game. Our 7th and 8th corners passed to no avail and Gabriel cleared a rare Slavia attack for a corner to the Czechs, but they\u2019re no Set Piece FC and the attack fizzled out as a shot was blasted high into the crowd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half time arrived with Arsenal now passing the ball around very nicely and in complete control. Having been rushed out of their usual game in the opening stages they quietly took control as the constant pressure won that series of corners. Slavia had no idea how to get back into the game and disappeared as a threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half time: Slavia Prague 0 – 1 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One minute into the second half, Declan Rice found Trossard on the left. His curling cross was met in mid air by Mikel Merino who side footed past a helpless Czech keeper. Trossard\u2019s contract upgrade was met with some confusion in the summer. Personally, I prefer him as an impact sub to a starter but fair play to the man, that assist was his 13th goal contribution in his last 13 matches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slavia Prague 0 – 2 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two minutes later the giant Chor\u00fd, who fortunately had crap feet for a big man, limped off. Despite a raft of substitutions, his and Slavia\u2019s race was run. A highly animated Mikel Arteta sent Ebere Eze on for a quiet Ethan Nwaneri. David Raya, presumably bored with no shot to save yet again, engaged in a bit of dilly dallying which almost presented the ball to a Slavia forward right in front of goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Declan Rice sent in yet another great free kick which was headed home by super striker Mikel Merino on 68 minutes. The travelling Gooners, now audible above the despondent Praha crowd sang \u201cYou\u2019ve only come to see the Arsenal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slavia Prague 0 – 3 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The referee now seemed to take pity on Slavia and handed soft yellow cards to Lewis-Skelly and N\u00f8rgaard who was astonished to find himself booked having been fouled twice in a double assault. He then gave Prague a penalty for a high foot by Ben White – which made no contact – or maybe the hand ball, actually by a Slavia player. The Dutch VAR, however, called the referee to the screen again, the decision was overturned and our precious defensive record remained intact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the end of added time approached, David Raya had to save a deflected shot – his first of the night – on 94\u201950\u201d ! The man is nicking a living playing behind our defence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full time: Slavia Prague 0 – 3 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another statement performance by the Arsenal which saw us go top of the Champions League. Slavia had not lost in that stadium since December 2024. The team matched a record of 8 wins without conceding a single goal – a record that has stood for 122 years since 1903. The whole team work like Trojans game after game and the hunger to win is clear. I love the way our defenders celebrate a block tackle like a goal scored at the other end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The squad showed its strength winning 3-0 away from home without Jes\u00fas, Havertz, \u00d8degaard, Madueke, Martinelli and Gy\u00f6keres. Piero Hinkapi\u00e9 came in and looked strong, Christian N\u00f8rgaard stepped into midfield flawlessly, Ethan Nwaneri looked good early on but seemed to fade, and ** drum roll ** Max Dowman became the youngest player ever to play in the Champions League at 15 years and 308 days of age, and it took two of them to mark him. And it is simply impossible not to wonder at the sheer inexhaustible energy of Declan Rice. Did you know we got him for half price?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are there really Arsenal fans out there who seriously want Mikel Arteta replaced ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bayern Munich and Inter Milan are next. Neither of them will be looking forward to that !<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And so it was to the Fortuna Arena in Prague – also apparently known as the Eden Arena – for our fourth Champions League fixture of the season against Slavia Praha. Arsenal had received an allocation of 1,024 tickets for this fixture which sold out to those Platinum, Gold and Travel Club members with 50+ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12202"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12202"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12219,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12202\/revisions\/12219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}