Arsenal beat Slavia Prague 2-1 in the Champions League

Arsenal held off a second-half fightback to beat Slavia Prague 2-1 in the Czech capital on Wednesday, with Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres scoring before the break. The result took Mikel Arteta’s side to 10 points from four games.

Slavia, who pulled a goal back through Wiktor Nowak in the 90th minute, remain on one point. Arsenal returned to winning ways in Europe after drawing 2-2 at Bayern last month.

Arsenal take early control

The Premier League champions settled quickly in the chilly conditions, and Madueke put them ahead after nine minutes. Gyokeres controlled a long clearance from David Raya with his chest before sending Madueke down the right; the winger raced beyond the Slavia defence and beat goalkeeper Nazar Domchak with a low shot.

Gyokeres doubled the lead in the 38th minute. After exchanging passes with Mikel Merino near the edge of the box, he struck a shot in off the far post. Gyokeres was one of six changes to Arteta’s starting line-up from Sunday’s 1-0 win at Liverpool.

Slavia struggled to create chances in the first half. Their captain, Tomas Holes, fired wide from inside the box in their clearest opening before the interval.

Slavia push Arsenal back

The hosts responded immediately after half-time, with Oskar Kubiak forcing Raya into a diving save. Later, Gabriel Magalhaes and Raya made goalline clearances from headers in quick succession, while David Zima shot over the bar.

Raya also turned a Kubiak header onto the post, but Arsenal could not keep a clean sheet. David Jurasek’s cross bounced through the defence in the 90th minute, allowing Nowak to score from close range.

“We have to value the fact that it’s very difficult to win away from home. We’ve done it against a really tough opponent, as we expected,” Arteta said. He described Arsenal’s two halves as “very different” and said his side should have made more of their chances.

What the result means

Arsenal have taken 10 points from their opening four Champions League matches, while Slavia are still searching for a first win in this campaign. Wednesday’s defeat was Slavia’s 23rd consecutive Champions League game without a victory, leaving them one short of AEK Athens’ all-time record, set between 1992 and 2006.