Gyökeres decisive as Arsenal edge Slavia Prague 2-1 in Champions League
Arsenal secured a 2-1 Champions League victory over Slavia Prague on 4 November 2026, with Viktor Gyökeres the decisive figure after setting up Noni Madueke’s early opener and scoring before half-time.
The win left Slavia winless in 23 European Cup and Champions League matches, equalling the unwanted record held by AEK Athens and FCSB, and extended Arsenal’s run to 10 unbeaten away European trips. The result followed Arsenal’s recent domestic and continental form, including a 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich two weeks earlier and a League Cup scare against Fleetwood the previous week.
Mikel Arteta made six changes to his side for the trip, handing Martín Zubimendi only his third start of a frustrating campaign and selecting Gyökeres to lead the line for the third time in Arsenal’s past four matches. Gyökeres, who finished last season as top scorer with 21 goals and had ended his drought with a scrappy finish against Fleetwood, provided the pass for Madueke’s early goal — his third assist in his last five appearances.
The opening goal arrived after David Raya’s long ball was allowed to bounce by the Slavia defence; Gyökeres won the second ball, chested it down and played the pass for Madueke to run onto and score after eight minutes. Mikel Merino, last year’s two-goal hero at this ground, had several chances before the half-hour mark but could not add to the lead.
Seven minutes before the break Gyökeres combined with Merino and curled a shot into the far corner to make it 2-0, with Michal Sadilek later clearing off the line to prevent further damage before half-time. Arsenal’s usual attacking fluency was blunted at times with Martin Ødegaard watching from the bench alongside William Saliba, the latter returning from a long-term back injury.
Slavia improved after introducing record signing Ange N’Guessan and late in the second half Emmanuel Ayaosi went down under Ezri Konsa on the edge of the area, an incident that saw Konsa and Rice booked. David Jurasek’s long-range effort deflected narrowly wide and Gabriel Magalhães produced two goal-line clearances from successive headers, while David Raya pushed Oskar Kubiak’s shot onto the post in a further test of Arsenal’s defence.
Wiktor Nowak pulled one back for Slavia in the final minute of normal time and there were nervous moments in stoppage time before the final whistle; Mikel Arteta appeared relieved when the match ended. Slavia’s solitary victory in this competition came in their first-ever match in 2007, and having lost 3-0 to Arsenal at the same venue a year ago they were unable to avoid equalling the 23-match winless mark in European Cup and Champions League history.