PRAGUE PUNISH SLOPPY GUNNERS
JUST minutes after Mikel Arteta had thrown his bottle of water to the ground in frustration, Slavia Prague’s players and staff were cavorting on the pitch after the final whistle, high-fiving, back- slapping and shouting into a TV camera in celebration.
That stark contrast in emotions showed the big difference that Tomas Holes’ stoppage- time equaliser had made to this tie.
With one dash to the far post and a diving header, the Slavia Prague defender snatched the first leg advantage away from Arsenal and ensured it would be heading back to the Czech capital.
Arteta’s fury was understandable, especially after seeing his side miss a string of earlier chances to rack up a lead to take into next week’s return.
All his players had to do after going ahead was hold on to the lead given to them by Nicolas Pepe’s late goal for a little longer. He scored in the 86th minute, so it was not the biggest of asks.
But nothing is straightforward with Arsenal — and nor will be the task of reaching the semi-finals.
Nobody has beaten Slavia at home this season. They have been held to draws four times and the only two in which their opponents have scored ended 1-1.
That scoreline would only be enough to force extra-time in next week’s second leg. Another nervy Europa League night awaits.
Arteta’s team selection will need to be spot- on and he had no regrets about the calls he made for the first leg, including the big one of benching his captain, PierreEmerick Aubameyang, despite the size of the occasion and growing importance of this competition to Arsenal’s season.
It was the late introductions off the bench of Pepe and Aubameyang which finally gave Arsenal the cutting edge required to break Slavia down. Still, though, it was not enough.
Arteta said: ‘ Psychologically to go there with 1-0 is completely different to going there with 1-1. Now we know we have to go there and win the game and score goals and we cannot play any games.
‘We have to go there with determination to be an attacking team and hurt them.
‘I totally believe we can go there and win the game or I wouldn’t be sitting here.’
But Arsenal could have made their second-leg task much easier. ‘When you create big chances you have to score them. We made it more difficult,’ the Arsenal manager admitted.
‘We have to manage the game, the last four or five minutes, much better than we did.
‘It was a big decision to leave some of the players out but we played the best team to start the game and still had some key players to come on and have an impact later on.’
The first half was cagey, with few clear chances.
Slavia Prague have knocked Leicester and Rangers out of this competition and are, impressively, unbeaten 25 games into their domestic league.
They played with confidence, defending well, unafraid to play keep-ball in their own territory or throw bodies forward, both to attack and pin Arsenal back.
They restricted Arsenal to a couple of first-half opportunities, one curled wide by Bukayo Saka and a Rob Holding header tipped over by goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar.
The closest the visitors came was when their best player, Lukas Provod, fired over Bernd Leno’s bar from long range early on.
Arsenal improved after the break. Willian hit a post from a free-kick won by Saka after he was tripped just outside the box by David Zima, although Slavia’s captain Jan Boril fired a warning shot back to remind Arsenal they were still in a game.
Then came the chances Arsenal and Arteta were left to rue.
Alexandre Lacazette won the ball on halfway and had the whole of the opposition half to run into and plenty of time to make up his mind what to do.
But when he reached Kolar, Lacazette opted for a rising, curling, side-footed finish and got it wrong, bending the ball against the bar, with Smith Rowe beaten to the rebound.
Saka’s fizzing cross was then just too powerfully hit for the Frenchman to convert.
Perhaps with Slavia’s home record in mind — and the need to grab at least one goal — Arteta threw on the cavalry. First he introduced Gabriel Martinelli, then Pepe and Aubameyang.
Aubameyang failed to convert Smith Rowe’s cross with his first major involvement but then played a key role in what looked to be the winner when he sent Pepe away to chip Kolar.
But after Leno had preserved Arsenal’s slender advantage by tipping Provod’s stoppage-time effort on to the post and behind, Arteta’s men could not successfully defend the resulting corner.
They allowed Holes to steal in at the back post to score — and spark wild celebrations from the away side.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Leno 6; Bellerin 6.5, Holding 7, Gabriel 7, Cedric 7; Partey 6.5 (Elneny 78), Xhaka 6; Saka 7 (Pepe 78), Smith Rowe 6.5 (Ceballos 88), Willian 6.5 (Martinelli 73, 6); Lacazette 6.5 (Aubameyang 78). Subs not used: Ryan, Hein, Mari, Nelson, Nketiah, Hein, Azeez, Lopez. Scorer: Pepe 86. Booked: None. Manager: Mikel Arteta 6.5. SLAVIA PRAGUE (4-2-3-1): Kolar 7.5; Bah 6, Zima 6, Holes 6.5, Boril 7.5; Hromada 6 (Sevick 46, 6), PROVOD 7.5; Dorley 6 (Lingr 69, 6), Stanciu 6 (Masopust 84), Olayinka 6 (Traore 85); Sima 6 (Kuchta 69, 6). Subs not used: Stejskal, Tecl, Kovar, Visinsky. Scorer: Holes 90+3. Booked: Zima. Manager: Jindrich Trpisovsky 7. Referee: Andreas Ekberg (Swe) 7.