Viktor Gyökeres seized his chance with an assist and a stylish goal as Arsenal claimed a hard-fought 2-1 Champions League victory over hosts Slavia Prague on Wednesday.
Noni Madueke opened the scoring and the Gunners looked comfortable until Wiktor Nowak pulled one back late on, forcing Mikel Arteta’s side to dig deep in stoppage time. The result lifted Arsenal to third in the Champions League table.
Gyökeres, making only his sixth start of the season, produced his best performance in an Arsenal shirt. His only previous goal this term had come in the Carabao Cup defeat at Fleetwood. Arteta made six changes from the side that beat Liverpool 1-0 at the weekend, handing starts to Ben White, Piero Hincapié, Martín Zubimendi, Mikel Merino and Eberechi Eze behind the Sweden striker. Youngster Max Dowman also featured late on.
Madueke struck in the ninth minute after Gyökeres won the ball on the halfway line and released him into space. The England winger raced clear and slid a precise finish through the legs of goalkeeper Nazar Domchak.
Domchak was kept busy, denying Gyökeres, tipping over a Merino drive and making a sharp reflex save. Slavia threatened briefly when Tomás Holeš poked wide from a long throw, but Arsenal immediately doubled their lead. Gyökeres combined neatly with Merino, opened up his body and clipped a composed finish in off the far post — his first Champions League goal from open play since January.
After the break Arsenal were nearly caught out when Oskar Kubiak forced David Raya into his first save. Madueke was denied a second by Domchak’s chest after more good work involving Gyökeres and Christos Tzolis.
The visitors sat deeper as the game wore on. Gabriel cleared a header off the line, and VAR checked a possible penalty after Merino and Nowak collided, but no spot-kick was given. Raya then produced a full-stretch save to push Kubiak’s header onto the post before Nowak converted David Jurasek’s cross for a late consolation.