UEFA Champions League: Arsenal Target 19th Unbeaten Game Against Slavia Prague

Arsenal will look to extend their club-record unbeaten run in the UEFA Champions League to 19 matches when they visit Slavia Prague, with the Czech side desperate to end an 18-game winless sequence in major European competition.

The Gunners have won 13 and drawn five of their last 18 Champions League matches, keeping 11 clean sheets and conceding just nine goals during the run.

They also boast an impressive record against Czech opposition, having won nine and drawn two of their 11 UEFA meetings with clubs from the country. Arsenal have never lost to a Czech team in European competition and have kept clean sheets in all six of their away matches in Czechia, winning five and drawing one.

Arsenal have won three of their five previous UEFA meetings with Slavia Prague, with the other two ending in draws. Their most recent encounter was a 3-0 away victory in last season’s Champions League league phase, with Bukayo Saka scoring and Mikel Merino netting twice.

The London club also recorded a memorable 7-0 victory over Slavia in the 2007/08 Champions League group stage, a result that remains their joint-biggest win in European club competition. They subsequently defeated the Czech side 4-0 in Prague in the second leg of their 2020/21 Europa League quarter-final.

Slavia, however, will be determined to halt their disappointing European run. They have drawn six and lost 12 of their last 18 matches in major European competitions, the longest winless sequence in the club’s European history.

Another failure to win would leave Slavia closer to the unwanted record for the longest winless run in European Cup/Champions League history, with AEK Athens and Steaua Bucharest holding the record at 23 matches.

Slavia’s last victory over an English club at home in a major European competition came in March 2000, when they beat Leeds United 2-1 in the UEFA Cup. They have since failed to win any of their last eight home meetings with English opposition.

Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze could also achieve a personal milestone by becoming the first Englishman to score in three consecutive European Cup appearances for the club since Ray Kennedy, who scored in four successive appearances in the 1971/72 campaign.

Goalkeeper David Raya will be another key figure for the visitors. He has kept 21 clean sheets in 39 Champions League starts, giving him a 54 per cent clean-sheet ratio, the best among goalkeepers with at least 25 starts in the competition.

Captain Martin Odegaard will also be central to Arsenal’s attacking approach. The Norwegian has recorded more defensive line-breaking passes (11), final-third line-breaking passes (45) and line-breaking passes leading to goals (four) than any other player in this season’s Champions League.

Arsenal’s previous visit to Prague also produced a historic moment when Max Dowman became the youngest player to appear in the Champions League at 15 years and 308 days.