Here’s Ed Aarons’ report from Prague. Thanks for joining me, and enjoy the rest of the football.
Here’s how the big Champions League ladder looks after the early games – and Arsenal are on top. Their remaining games in the “league phase” are Bayern (H), Club Brugge (A), Inter (A), Kairat (H).
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 4 | 11 | 12 |
| 2 | PSG | 3 | 10 | 9 |
| 3 | Bayern Munich | 3 | 10 | 9 |
| 4 | Inter Milan | 3 | 9 | 9 |
| 5 | Real Madrid | 3 | 7 | 9 |
| 6 | Borussia Dortmund | 3 | 5 | 7 |
| 7 | Man City | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| 8 | Newcastle | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| 9 | Barcelona | 3 | 5 | 6 |
| 10 | Liverpool | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| 11 | Chelsea | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 12 | Sporting | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 13 | Qarabag FK | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 14 | Galatasaray | 3 | -1 | 6 |
| 15 | Tottenham Hotspur | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| 16 | PSV | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| 17 | Atalanta | 3 | -3 | 4 |
| 18 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 4 | -4 | 4 |
| 19 | Napoli | 4 | -5 | 4 |
| 20 | Marseille | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 21 | Atletico Madrid | 3 | -1 | 3 |
| 22 | Club Brugge | 3 | -2 | 3 |
| 23 | Athletic Bilbao | 3 | -3 | 3 |
| 24 | Union Saint Gilloise | 3 | -6 | 3 |
| 25 | Juventus | 3 | -1 | 2 |
| 26 | Bodo/Glimt | 3 | -2 | 2 |
| 27 | Monaco | 3 | -3 | 2 |
| 28 | AE Pafos | 3 | -4 | 2 |
| 29 | Bayer Leverkusen | 3 | -5 | 2 |
| 30 | Slavia Prague | 4 | -6 | 2 |
| 31 | Villarreal | 3 | -3 | 1 |
| 32 | Copenhagen | 3 | -4 | 1 |
| 33 | Olympiacos | 3 | -7 | 1 |
| 34 | FC Kairat | 3 | -8 | 1 |
| 35 | Benfica | 3 | -5 | 0 |
| 36 | Ajax | 3 | -10 | 0 |
Speaking of Copenhagen, that is where Youssoufa Moukoko now plies his trade. The former Dortmund wonderkid was the Champions League’s youngest ever player, until about 20 minutes ago.
Rob Smyth is on hand for the clockwatch, featuring PSG v Bayern Munich and Tottenham v Copenhagen.
It finished Napoli 0-0 Eintracht Frankfurt in tonight’s other early game. Next up: Liverpool v Real Madrid with Scott Murray …
Stick around – we’ll try to get reaction from Mikel Arteta, Mikel Merino or Max Dowman’s maths teacher. Whoever’s available.
Full time: Slavia Prague 0-3 Arsenal
A very satisfactory night’s work for Arsenal, who make it four wins from four in the Champions League and match a 122-year-old club record with an eighth straight clean sheet. Mikel Merino scored twice in the makeshift centre-forward spot, Bukayo Saka was excellent and Max Dowman making history was the icing on the cake.
95 mins: Slavia finally get a shot on target as Mbodji curls an effort that’s straight at David Raya. He’s then booked for scuffling with Gabriel, who he felt had fouled him as he shaped to shoot.
94 mins: Slavia Prague win a late corner, and a final chance to put a dent in Arsenal’s evening. Nope – substitute Annous heads clear.
92 mins: Mbodji tries to bend a cross in to the far post, but Raya claims it. No shots on target conceded by Arsenal tonight.
90 mins: Five minutes of injury time.
89 mins: Time ticking down, the spiciest action happening in the stands where several hundred Slavia ultras are stripped to the waist. It’s a brisk seven degrees Centigrade in Prague tonight.
No penalty! It was a pretty daft decision really, and the referee doesn’t need too many looks before he sheepishly jogs back on and reverses his decision. Maybe he just wanted to spice things up!*
*I am in no way implying he gave a penalty just to spice things up
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Slavia Prague penalty? Well then! White is penalised for a high boot on Provod in the area, and Arsenal’s run without conceding is at serious risk now. That said, replays show both players raising a boot simultaneously – and referee Aliyar Aghayev is called to the monitor.
83 mins: Substitute Doudera is booked for dissent, not too long after coming on.
82 mins: Not much time for Slavia Prague to break Arsenal’s run of clean sheets, in a game that’s been very stop-start with all the recent substitutions.
79 mins: Saka takes the free kick but balloons it beyond the goal. Another youngster is coming on for Arsenal – Andre Harriman Annous, a comparatively creaky 17-year-old, replacing Declan Rice.
78 mins: Dowman is quickly involved, drawing a free kick from Mbodji. Perhaps the Slavia man has heard that Dowman was born on New Year’s Eve 2009, and simply lashed out.
76 mins: Nørgaard goes into the book for a foul on Sadilek. Saka is shifting out to the left, to allow Dowman to play on his favoured right side.
74 mins: Moses and Sanyang, two of Slavia’s better performers tonight, are replaced by defender Daiki Hashioka and forward Vasil Kusej.
Max Dowman makes Champions League history
Trossard, who looked to be struggling slightly, is replaced by Max Dowman. The 15-year-old becomes the youngest-ever Champions League player! Timber and Hincapie are also coming off, replaced by Ben White and Myles Lewis-Skelly.
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70 mins: Zafeiris is the first Slavia Prague player in the book, for a shove under a high ball. That’s the end of Zafeiris’ night – he’s replaced by Muhammed Cham, with David Doudera on for Vlcek.
Declan Rice plays a hopeful long ball towards Merino, and as Markovic charges off his line to try and scoop it up, the ball hits the back of Merino’s head, goes through the keeper’s arms, and bobbles apologetically into the net. They all count!
GOAL! Sparta Prague 0-3 Arsenal (Merino 68')
A third Arsenal goal, pretty much from nowhere – and a second for Mikel Merino, thanks in part to some reckless goalkeeping.
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66 mins: Raya takes too long on the ball and his clearance is closed down by Provod – but the keeper recovers to grab the loose ball. Arsenal losing their run of clean sheets in that fashion would have been objectively funny.
64 mins: Eze is on for Nwaneri, who was on a yellow card. By the way, Arsenal are top of the league standings as it stands – and could stay there with PSG facing Bayern and Real Madrid at Anfield tonight.
63 mins: Saka pops back up on the right and takes on Mbodji, whose eventual clearance is mopped up by Saliba. He plays it left to Timber, who fancies a run through midfield, and almost breaks into the area.
62 mins: A first Arsenal change coming up, with Eberechi Eze coming on. Saka holds the ball up well, but Arsenal can’t quite find the killer ball to open up the hosts’ defence.
60 mins: The best opening for Slavia so far, but snuffed out by Gabriel. Slavia found space behind and Sanyang swept the ball across goal towards Chytil – but despite being behind his man, Gabriel manages to lever him off the ball legally.
59 mins: At one end, Saka latches on to Rice’s cross and gets a shot away under pressure, but Markovic is right behind it. At the other end …
58 mins: Sadilek slips as he takes the corner, ballooning the ball towards the edge of the area (and perhaps piquing the interest of set-piece coaches across Europe). Arsenal are able to clear it away.
57 mins: The lively Sanyang topples over close to the corner flag, with the referee ruling that Timber tugged on his arm. Slavia free kick, swept towards the far post and behind for a corner off Hincapie.
56 mins: Norgaard, who’s slotted neatly into the Arsenal midfield, stretches out a leg to cut out a diagonal pass.
54 mins: Slavia win a corner, but one of their number is whistled for a foul. Hard to tell who, could have been two or three of them.
53 mins: At the other end, Sanyang cuts in from the byline and looks for Zafeiris – and with Saliba also closing in, Saka gets back to make the challenge.
52 mins: Markovic has to race out and head a long ball away; it falls to Norgaard who thinks about lobbing it straight back at goal, but tries to take a touch and is dispossessed.
50 mins: Zafeiris goes through the back of Merino, then remonstrates with the referee after he’s penalised. It’s become a frustrating night for the hosts.
48 mins: Chory hobbles off, replaced by another striker in the shape of Mojmir Chytil.
It’s a simple but effective setup, Rice sweeping the ball left to Trossard, who finds Merino unmarked between two centre-backs. He takes it beautifully, cushioning a volley inside the near post to pretty much wrap this game up.
GOAL! Slavia Prague 0-2 Arsenal (Merino 46')
And within seconds, Arsenal double their lead through emergency striker Mikel Merino!
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Second half
We’re back under way …
Meanwhile, Scott Murray covers the Trent Alexander-Arnold derby between Liverpool and Real Madrid.
In the other early kick-off, it’s Napoli 0-0 Eintracht Frankfurt at half-time. Woo! Rob Smyth is on clockwatch duty for the later games …
“Even as an Arsenal supporter, I’m embarrassed by that ludicrous penalty decision,” writes Charles Antaki. “But Saka has scored it, so that’s great. Both things can, as they say, be true at the same time.”
On the penalty: it feels like a decision that might not be given in the Premier League, and the rules state that “a handball offence is not committed when a player heads, kicks or plays the ball with another part of their body and it then hits their own hand/arm.”
Champions League referees are more likely to weigh up the high arm as more significant than the slight deflection off Provod’s head. It’s a soft penalty, but not a baffling one. What we can all agree on, though, is that parsing handball rules during an MBM is a lot of fun.
Half time: Slavia Prague 0-1 Arsenal
Bukayo Saka’s penalty has Arsenal in front after a bruising first half – and their goal remains unbreached, too, with Slavia offering a lot of intensity but not truly testing David Raya yet.
50 mins: Hincapie and Chory tussle under the high ball, and there’s a big appeal for handball as Hincapie ends up on the deck. The referee gives Arsenal a free kick, leading to a bit of pushing and shoving between both sets of players. Replays show it was a fair decision.
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49 mins: Saliba is penalised for bringing Provod down in midfield, but escapes a yellow card. Slavia will heave it in …
48 mins: Arsenal stroke the ball around without much intent, before Nwaneri attempts a pass that’s too far from Rice and too short for Trossard.
46 mins: Arsenal doing a good job of holding their hosts at arms’ length now. Slavia look a bit weary from their first-half endeavours.
44 mins: The attacking opportunity goes to waste, Zafeiris sending a half-volley spinning high over the bar. There’ll be four minutes of injury time.
42 mins: Sanyang steers a cross towards Moses, cutting in from the right, and Gabriel has to clear for a corner. A late chance for Slavia to breach Arsenal’s defences in the first half …
39 mins: Saka wins a corner, but Slavia’s defenders see it off. He then goes down under Mbodji’s challenge in the corner of the area, and is slow getting up.
36 mins: Merino goes into the book for a foul on Sanyang. Moments later, the Slavia winger threatens to get on to a long ball but had drifted a yard past the Arsenal back line.
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33 mins: Provod protested that the ball hit his head and deflected on to his hand, but his appeals are waved away. It’s still not entirely clear from a couple of replays whether his head touched the ball before hitting his hand.
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GOAL! Slavia Prague 0-1 Arsenal (Saka penalty 31')
Bukayo Saka steps up and strokes the ball beyond Markovic, who goes the right way but can’t keep it out. A welcome breakthrough for Arsenal after a tough opening half-hour.
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VAR penalty review: The referee is now being asked to check a potential handball from Lukas Provod – and replays show the Slavia captain had his hand raised above his shoulder, and the ball flicked onto it. This is going to be a penalty.
28 mins: The referee addresses some pre-corner jostling before Saka’s ball in, which so nearly finds Gabriel’s head. It flicks off Provod instead, for another corner.
27 mins: Nwaneri tees up Saka, who cuts on to his left foot and tries to sneak a shot inside the near post. Markovic does well to get down and tip the ball behind.
25 mins: The next corner is swirled towards the back post, and eventually headed acrobatically behind by Chaloupek.
24 mins: Saka is starting to make an impact, and sees a near-post shot deflected behind. Rice’s corner is whipped towards Trossard, with Markovic juggling it behind.
22 mins: The banner reads ‘133 LET’ – it’s to mark the club’s 133rd anniversary, it seems. Nwaneri is the first player booked for bringing Sanyang down; he may not be the last.
20 mins: The home fans, very loud ever since kick-off, unfurl a giant tifo behind Markovic’s goal. Big fan of such casual banner work, like playing your biggest hit halfway through a festival set.
19 mins: Saka gets into space with Timber on the overlap, uses him by not using him, and fires a decent shot on goal that Markovic gets down to paw away from danger.
17 mins: There’s a break in play while Gabriel gets treatment from the latest agricultural challenge delivered by a Slavia player.
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15 mins: It doesn’t really come to anything, with Slavia sharper to react in the 50-50 challenges and seize on loose balls so far.
13 mins: Mbodji is penalised for a clumsy foul on Merino, presenting Arsenal with a free kick some 35 yards from goal.
11 mins: Some technical difficulties on the TV feed mean that Sam Matterface’s commentary is echoing in the mobile phone style. Arsenal dealt with a couple of throw-ins and are now trying to play their way around the hosts’ aggressive pressing.
10 mins: Moses wins the ball and plays it down the right flank for Sanyang, who is dealt with by Hincapie at the expense of a throw-in.
8 mins: David Moses is penalised for pressing a little too keenly, allowing Arsenal a chance to regroup. The hosts are certainly applying some early pressure.
7 mins: After a spot of head tennis in midfield, Mbodji has a go from 30-odd yards, which flies wide of David Raya’s goal.
4 mins: Another opening for the hosts, with Sanyang’s shot blocked and Raya springing to his left to palm away Chory’s effort on the rebound … but the Slavia striker was offside anyway.
2 mins: The ball ricochets out to Gabriel, on the edge of the area, whose strike from an awkward angle flies just over the bar. Slavia Prague then break upfield, and Provod sends a low shot wide of the far post. A lively start …
Peep!
We’re under way, and Arsenal have an early chance to heave a throw-in into the box …
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Slavia Prague have gone five games without conceding – three in the Czech league, one in the Cup and a goalless draw at Atalanta in the Champions League. Something has to give tonight – or not, as the case may be.
Mikel Arteta: “[Slavia] usually press high, man-to-man, so we’ll need different attributes. Very intense and direct, they’ll make it uncomfortable [Merino] is learning the position, he scored goals last season … we need people to adapt with the injuries we have. Ethan [Nwaneri] deserves a start, he is getting better and better.”
A vision of football’s future, from David Squires.
No Viktor Gyökeres tonight for Arsenal – the striker suffered a muscle injury in the win over Burnley, so Mikel Merino will reprise his role as a stand-in centre-forward. There are three further changes from Saturday’s line-up, with Piero Hincapie in for Riccardo Calafiori at left-back. Christian Nørgaard and Ethan Nwaneri replace Eberechi Eze and the suspended Martín Zubimendi in midfield.
Team news
Slavia Prague (3-4-3): Markovic; Vlcek, Chaloupek, Zima; Moses, Zafeiris, Sadilek, Mbodji; Provod, Chory, Sanyang.
Subs: Stanek, Rezek, Saracevic, Hashioka, Kusej, Chytil, Boril, Doudera, Toula, Prekop, Jelinek, Kolisek.
Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Norgaard, Rice, Nwaneri; Saka, Merino, Trossard.
Subs: Setford, Mosquera, White, Eze, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman, Harriman-Annous, Rojas, Sagoe Junior.
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Preamble
Since losing at Anfield on the last day of August, Arsenal have won 10 out of 11 games in all competitions. They’ve won their last eight matches on the bounce, and their last seven wins have come without conceding a single goal. The last time they achieved eight clean sheets in a row, in 1903, Arsenal were a second-tier side based in Woolwich.
Standing in the way of history tonight are Slavia Prague, who sit 28th on the big Champions League ladder with two points and two goals in three games; their visitors are in third place with three wins from three (and no goals conceded, naturally). The Czech champions are also pretty solid defensively, conceding eight goals in 14 games during an unbeaten start to their league campaign.
Look, I’ve been in the live blogging game for a few years now, and I can’t recall many conclusions as foregone as this one: Arsenal are surely destined to win this game two- or three-nil, rarely venturing out of second gear before a tougher run of fixtures – Sunderland (A), Spurs (H), Bayern (H) and Chelsea (A) – further tests their resolve.
Still, this is football and you can never be certain. Any given Tuesday (early) evening, and all of that. Kick-off at the Eden Arena is at 5.45pm GMT; team news to follow.
