Slavia Prague have voiced their displeasure with some of Arsenal’s tactics in the Gunners’ 3-0 Champions League win on Tuesday.
Bukayo Saka’s penalty and Mikel Merino’s brace were enough to take all three points for Mikel Arteta’s side at the Fortuna Arena.
The victory takes the north Londoners second in the Champions League table, level on points with Bayern Munich, and the Premier League outfit have not conceded a single goal in their opening four matches.
The result extended Arsenal’s winning run to ten in all competitions, and the Gunners sit top of the Premier League by six points as well.
However, Slavia captain Lukas Provod was unhappy with Arsenal’s tactics, and felt that the referee allowed the visitors to play as they wished.
“Arsenal prepare for set-pieces for a long time, we knew that,” Provod said afterwards.
“When they were leading, they didn’t rush anywhere, the referee didn’t rush them. I guess that’s a compliment for us too.”
Provod was the guilty party in the awarding of Arsenal’s first-half penalty. VAR spotted a handball from the winger from a Bukayo Saka corner, and the Gunners’ captain stroked home the opener from the spot.
Provod was dumbfounded with the decision, and continued to plead his innocence even after the full-time whistle.
“I was in charge of Gabriel, which is a tough one, so I was 100 per cent focused on defending him,” Provod added.
“The ball went from his head to my head and then into my hand. I prayed that VAR wouldn’t rule it out, which rarely happens.
“I don’t know exactly what the rule is when the ball goes from my head to my hand. Unfortunately, it was a penalty.
“In the first situation, [the referee] told me that it went from Gabriel’s head to my hand. Which wasn’t true.”
Slavia manager Jindrich Trpisovsky also explained why he believed the decision was wrong.
“‘The referee told us that it was a hand above the head,” Trpisovsky said.
“[Provod] said that he first hit the ball with his head and it went into his hand, which would have been a violation, but this does not apply when the hand is above the shoulder.”
