Slavia Prague v Arsenal preview
Arsenal are targeting a 10th consecutive win in all competitions and an eighth straight clean sheet when the English leaders visit Czech counterparts Slavia Prague at the Fortuna Arena.
Should they require any more cause for confidence, the Gunners have never lost to opponents from Czechia (W8 D2) and thrashed Slavia 4-0 away to reach the semi-finals of the 2020/21 Europa League, while victory would give them an eighth successive win in league phase games in the Champons League.
“We’ve got to take that belief, energy and courage and understand, especially, the things that we should have done better in the second half,” said manager Mikel Arteta, reflecting on his team’s 2-0 win at Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday.
“On Tuesday is another one and on Saturday [away to Sunderland] is another one. The games are coming thick and fast.”
Slavia cannot quite match Arsenal’s run of more than 11 hours without conceding but the reigning Czech champions have five clean sheets in a row in all competitions, beating third-bottom Banik 2-0 at home on Saturday to stand level on points with Sparta Prague at the summit.
🎯 Rychle a přesně
Druhý gól přidal po pěkné akci Mojmír Chytil. #sksfcb pic.twitter.com/LB8eKinYr9
— SK Slavia Praha (@slaviaofficial) November 1, 2025
“For me, Arsenal are currently the best team in the world,” said manager Jindrich Trpisovsky. “They certainly have the best set pieces.
“They have developed incredibly since we last played them. Arteta has been there for a long time and has refined the team… [they can] sweep everyone away in different ways.
“I heard that no-one has had a shot on their goal in about five games. They have world-class players in every position.”
Trpisovsky expects Arsenal to play at an “even higher level” than one of last season’s finalists, Inter Milan, did in their 3-0 home win over Slavia on September 30, when the Italian club had seven of the eight efforts on target between the teams.
Slavia Prague v Arsenal team news
Trpisovsky expects Senegalese left-back Youssoupha Mbodji to return from injury but winger Ivan Schranz and centre-backs Jan Boril, Igoh Ogbu and Tomas Holes are among Sparta’s absentees.
Left-back Dominik Javorcek and midfielder Petr Sevcik have long-term knee injuries but goalkeeper Jindra Stanek and David Doudera are back in contention.
🐺❤️ Vlčák to prolomil
Srdcař. Odchovanec. Jeden z nás. #sksfcb pic.twitter.com/VMFeaEWIMn
— SK Slavia Praha (@slaviaofficial) November 1, 2025
“It’s almost unbelievable,” Trpisovsky rued of his depleted squad. “Hats off to the way the [available] guys are taking it on… big credit to them.”
Defender Tomas Vlcek, who has had a troubled time with long-term injuries and illness in recent seasons, scored his first goal since August 2022 with the 55th-minute first goal against Banik.
Gabriel Martinelli has scored in Arsenal’s three Champions League games so far this season but missed the trip to Burnley with an injury sustained in the 2-0 EFL Cup last-16 win at home to Brighton & Hove Albion three days earlier.
Arteta said striker Viktor Gyokeres had “one of the best games that he’s played” against Burnley but the new signing was withdrawn at half-time.
“We had to take him off because he was feeling a little muscular niggle, so we’ll have to wait and see,” added Arteta. “His performance was exceptional and he was part of the first goal.”
Midfielder Martin Odegaard and forwards Noni Madueke, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus all have knee injuries, although Arteta believes “some of” his sidelined players could return “pretty soon”.
“It’s difficult to [name] a game,” Arteta said before the encounter with Burnley, noting the international break between November 9 and 23.
“After that, I think we’ll have some back. I don’t know if it’s going to be all of them… but we’ll be quite close by then.”
Slavia Prague v Arsenal predicted lineups
Slavia Prague starting XI: Jakub Markovic, Tomas Vlcek, David Zima, Stepan Chaloupek, David Moses, Christos Zafeiris, Oscar Dorley, Youssoupha Mbodji, Lukas Provod, Tomas Chory, Vasil Kusej
Arsenal starting XI: David Raya, Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Martin Zubimendi, Mikel Merino, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, Leandro Trossard
Dec delivers 🎯 pic.twitter.com/CLQoan81iz
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) November 2, 2025
How to watch Slavia Prague v Arsenal: Live stream, TV channel
Kick-off on Tuesday is at 17:45 GMT (13:45 ET / 11:45 PT), with live coverage in the UK on TNT Sports 1.
TNT Sports costs £29.99 a month through discovery+, which includes Eurosport and entertainment and is available on a vast range of devices including smart TVs and gaming consoles.
