Viktor Gyökeres the difference as Arsenal claim nervy win against Slavia Prague

Another European away day, another victory for Arsenal: albeit only just. This time, Viktor Gyökeres stole the show as poor Slavia Prague matched the longest winless streak in European Cup and Champions League history despite a spirited late comeback. That unwanted record stands at 23, equalling the mark set by AEK Athens and FCSB – formerly known as Steaua Bucharest – while Arsenal are unbeaten in their 10 last away trips.

However, had it not been for a wonder save from David Raya, the Czech champions would have snatched a point after Wiktor Nowak pulled one back late on as Mikel Arteta’s usually watertight defence showed signs of fallibility under pressure.

In contrast to last week’s defeat against Fleetwood in the Carabao Cup, Arsenal had been cruising until the last 15 minutes after Noni Madueke fired them ahead early on, set up superbly by Gyökeres.

Related: Champions League: Slavia Prague 1-2 Arsenal, RB Leipzig 2-3 Manchester City and more – live

That was the Sweden striker’s third assist in his past five appearances, although Arteta will have been even more encouraged by the emphatic finish that appeared to put the game beyond Slavia’s reach just before the break.

But the Arsenal manager admitted his side had taken their eye off the ball by allowing their hosts back into the game with some uncharacteristic defensive lapses as Slavia racked up 18 shots to his side’s 12.

“At half-time, the message was clear: there is still a lot to do in this game,” said Arteta. “We were extremely far from our standards in everything that we have to do, in every basic, in every concept and in everything that we discussed to avoid the game that we played in the second half. That is a huge learning.”

Slavia’s solitary victory in this competition came in their first-ever match in 2007 and after losing 3-0 to Arsenal here exactly a year ago, they knew their chances of avoiding the unwanted milestone were extremely slim. Arteta’s side have developed a killer instinct on their travels in Europe – not since May 2025 in the second leg of their semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain have Arsenal lost an away game in 90 minutes.

After their exploits at Anfield on Sunday that took them three points clear at the top of the Premier League, Arteta heavily rotated his side again with six changes. It’s perhaps not surprising that Martín Zubimendi ran out of steam given the Spain World Cup winner made only his third start of a so far frustrating campaign.

For the third time in Arsenal’s past four matches, Gyökeres was entrusted with leading the line after finally getting off the mark with a scrappy strike against Fleetwood. He finished as top scorer last season with 21 goals but has clearly been struggling for form and confidence. Yet there was no doubting the quality of his assist for Madueke’s opening goal after just eight minutes.

Raya’s long ball should have been dealt with by the Slavia defence but they made the criminal error of ­allowing it to bounce. That was the cue for Gyökeres to come alive as he beat his marker to the ball, chested it down and played the perfect pass for the England forward to run on to and score. Arteta’s reaction on the touchline suggested he enjoyed it too.

Mikel Merino was Arsenal’s hero here last year with two goals and he could have extended their lead on three occasions before the half-hour mark. The lively Madueke created his best opportunity after cutting the ball back to Merino but he could not beat Nazar Domchak in Slavia’s goal.

With Martin Ødegaard watching from the bench next to William Saliba on the latter’s return from a long-term back injury, Arsenal lacked some of their usual fluency in attack. But ­Slavia were still no match for them and their task became almost ­impossible seven minutes before the break. Gyökeres exchanged a smart one-two with Merino inside the area before curling a brilliant shot into the far corner.

To their credit, the hosts began the second half with much more aggression after introducing their record signing, Ange N’Guessan, from the bench. Ezri Konsa and Declan Rice both found themselves in the book as Arsenal were pinned back. David Jurasek let fly from long range and his effort was deflected just wide of Raya’s goal. From the resulting corner, Gabriel Magalhães somehow managed to clear two goalbound headers off the line in a matter of seconds. The Brazilian celebrated with a massive fist pump but his evening wasn’t over.

Mikulas Konecny should have done much better with another header before Raya managed to push Oskar Kubiak’s header on to the post despite being at full stretch in mid-air. Slavia eventually scored the goal all their endeavour deserved in the final minute of normal time when Nowak fired in at the far post. There were a few nervous moments in stoppage time as Konecny forced Raya into another save. Arteta breathed a sigh of relief at the full-time whistle as Slavia were condemned to their fate.