Slavia Prague forward Lukas Provod has given an insight into what it’s like to challenge Arsenal’s defence.
Slavia Prague really threatened Arsenal early into the Champions League contest, but it was the Gunners who came out on top.
Provod, in particular, had an eventful game, as the Slavia forward was involved in controversy in the penalty box.
After the 29-year-old conceded a penalty in the first half, allowing Arsenal to open the scoring, the Czech star was also involved in the penalty that Slavia won, which was eventually overturned.
The drama in the box was testing for Provod, but what was even more of a challenge was attempting to break Arsenal’s defence down.
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Slavia Prague’s Lukas Provod says Arsenal have the best defence in the world
Slavia did what few teams do, which was fire a single shot on target against Arsenal.
Arsenal’s record-matching form is no fluke, as Provod stressed after the game when asked what the Gunners’ quality in defence is like to play against.
“It’s one of the best, if not the best team in the world,” Provod said post-match, as transcribed by iSport.
“They have a lot of quality, we see it in the Premier League, how they decide games.”
Though Slavia showed Arsenal a lot of respect in the media, the Czech giants didn’t hold back on the pitch, so much so that Provod insisted that the result was ‘cruel’.
“We didn’t deal with it badly, the result is cruel for us. They didn’t create that much. We were active, our DNA was there.”
Up until the penalty was conceded at the half-hour mark, Slavia pushed Arsenal hard, but after the goal was scored, the trajectory of the match changed entirely.
The stats: Slavia Prague showed intent, but not enough
The hosts can be proud of their performance to some extent; however, some of the defending on show was horrendous.
Mikel Merino was able to score too easily for his first goal, which took the contest away from Slavia.
| Slavia Prague | Statistic | Arsenal |
| 0.47 | Expected goals | 1.81 |
| 0 | Big chances | 3 |
| 9 | Shots | 14 |
| 5 | Goalkeeper saves | 1 |
That doesn’t mean to say that the Czech side didn’t try, as they fired nine shots on goal, only one on target.
Arsenal limited Slavia, who hadn’t lost at home in almost a year, to just 0.47xG (expected goals), introducing the opposition to their performance levels.
It was another big win for the Gunners, who are showing no signs of slowing.
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