Gyökeres rolls back the Sporting years to help Arsenal bring home the Prague bacon
By Alessandro Schiavone at Eden Arena, Prague
Champions League Matchday 4
Slavia Praha 1-2 Arsenal
Goals: Madueke 9' , Gyökeres 38' (A), Nowal 90' (SP)
What would Arsenal be without Viktor Gyökeres? Well, £57.9m better off, but they may not have scraped a 2-1 win at Slavia Prague yesterday.
The talismanic Swede was at the heart of it all, having grabbed a goal and an assist in a pretty much one-sided first half before Arsenal decided to put their feet up after the break and see out the result.
Maybe Mikel Arteta would have had one less selection headache to deal with over the years. And perhaps a Champions League winner's medal.
But the much-maligned striker Arsenal picked ahead of Benjamin Sesko and Alexander Isak in the summer of 2025 is finally proving his worth on the biggest stage and when it matters most.
Last season, he banged in 22 goals, but most of them were lead-extending strikes rather than decisive ones. Yesterday was different. And yesterday he was different class
It was his first goal of the season in the Champions League, and Arsenal will be hoping it is one of many.
Wiktor Nowak pulled one back after tapping home unmarked in the middle of the six-yard area in the 90th minute, having been left free as a bird after the Gunners made a hash of clearing an inswinging cross from the left.
But it was too little, too late for the Czech giants, who have only one point on the board after the opening four games.
And their poor statistics get even worse when you scratch beneath the surface, as Slavia have now gone 23 GAMES without a win in their history in Europe’s most prestigious competition.
Their last win? Against Steaua Bucharest in September 2007. Arsenal’s midfield was marshalled by Mathieu Flamini and Cesc Fabregas back then.
The latter masterminded a famous 9-1 win as Como manager in Lens yesterday, while the former is now one of the wealthiest ex-footballers on the planet thanks to his GF Biochemicals business.
Talk about another era. Another lifetime.
Yet yesterday, despite their technical and tactical superiority Arsenal made hard work of it all.
It seemed to be business as usual. The Basque’s men controlled the controllables by keeping the ball and striking as soon as spaces opened up.
And that’s exactly what they did when VG released Noni Madueke on the turn and into space before the former Chelsea winger beat goalkeeper Domchak one-on-one.
Before they could put daylight between themselves and the Czech champions, however, Merino failed to add to his brace against Slavia last season.
His hat-trick of missed opportunities included a shot tipped over by the hosts’ goalkeeper, another fired straight at him and a header that sailed over the crossbar.
But VG bailed him out with a fine strike off the post after a neat one-two with the 2026 World Cup winner.
The wounds looked to have been salted beyond repair, but the unthinkable almost became a reality.
Arsenal took it easy in the second half. After Eze was kicked once or twice in the opening stages and with the temperatures dropping brutally, the Prem champs wanted to avoid injuries at all costs. And they did so by toning down the flair.
Yet they were lucky to concede what looked like a consolation goal in the 90th minute, shortly after Raya helped Kubiak’s header on to the post.
They had to dig deep and stop thinking, even for a moment, that they had a divine right to win games simply because of who they are.
Instead, they had to put their bodies on the line in injury-time.
In the end, Arsenal brought home the bacon – the local Uzený špek. But it wasn’t as plain sailing as it had been 12 months ago! And VG deserves credit a lot of credit for it.
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