Preview: Slavia Prague vs Arsenal - prediction, team news, lineups

An Arsenal team yet to suffer defeat in the 2026-27 Champions League league phase take on a Slavia Prague side still searching for their first triumph of the tournament at the Fortuna Arena on Wednesday evening.

The Gunners have collected seven points from the first nine on offer in Europe, whereas their Czech hosts have just one draw and two defeats to show from their opening three fixtures.

Match preview

No longer perfect points-wise or rearguard-wise in the Champions League, Arsenal ventured to Bayern Munich on matchday three as the only team in the UCL yet to concede a goal, having shut out Lille and Napoli in the opening two rounds.

However, the Premier League champions still went toe to toe with their Bavarian counterparts and came away with a hard-earned point from an enthralling 2-2 draw with Bayern, replicating an incredibly rare and eerie feat in the process.

The four-goal stalemate marked just the second time that Arsenal had scored first, fallen behind and still managed to avoid defeat in a European Cup/Champions League fixture, after an identical result against none other than Bayern in 2024.

While Arsenal's 14-game winning sequence in the league phase may now be a thing of the past, the Gunners remain in the coveted top eight spots of the league-phase table, and two goals conceded still makes them the joint-best defensive side in the competition, alongside Stuttgart and PSV Eindhoven.

The elusive quadruple remains a pipe dream after their embarrassing EFL Cup exit to Fleetwood Town, but Mikel Arteta got the seismic response he was hoping for on Sunday, overseeing a long-awaited Premier League victory at Anfield.

Arsenal's 1-0 win over Liverpool - their first in the top flight away to the Reds in 14 years - took them three points clear at the top of the Premier League table, and highlighted the gap that remains between the champions and their challengers.

Involved in their own frenetic four-goal draw on matchday three - albeit in differing circumstances - Slavia Prague put their first Champions League point on the board courtesy of coming from 2-0 down to hold Fenerbahce in Istanbul.

Jindrich Trpisovsky's men may have feared a hiding when Oguz Aydin and Mason Greenwood struck inside the opening 11 minutes, but Lukas Provod swiftly cut the deficit in half before Pavel Kacor's 90th-minute leveller ended their European losing sequence.

Slavia had fallen to Lens and Sabah in their opening two fixtures, but their gritty draw at Fenerbahce was not enough to lift them out of the automatic elimination places, as Wednesday's hosts lie 32nd in the 36-team rankings after three matchdays.

The Red and Whites have also now failed to win in a staggering 18 consecutive UEFA fixtures - coincidentally the same length as Arsenal's unbeaten UCL run, excluding penalties - but Trpisovsky's crop have found form again at an ideal time.

Indeed, Slavia Prague have now strung together a five-game unbeaten run in all tournaments and have won back-to-back fixtures, most recently demolishing Jablonec 5-0 to maintain a seven-point lead at the top of the Czech First League table.

However, the reigning national champions were swept aside 3-0 by Arsenal at home in the 2025-26 league phase and have failed to win any of their previous five head-to-heads against the Gunners, whose 7-0 thumping of Slavia in 2007 remains their joint-biggest victory in European football.

Slavia Prague Champions League form:

Slavia Prague form (all competitions):

Arsenal Champions League form:

Arsenal form (all competitions):

Team News

Arsenal quartet Christos Tzolis, Declan Rice, Noni Madueke and Riccardo Calafiori all battled back from injury concerns to make the trip to Anfield, but Bukayo Saka (quad) and William Saliba (back) remain absent.

Eberechi Eze is also a fresh concern after Arteta revealed that the Englishman is dealing with an unspecified fitness problem, but Max Dowman - serving a three-game domestic suspension - is available here.

Given Eze's concern, Tzolis's fast-tracked comeback and Madueke's recent ankle scare, it would not be a shock to see Dowman start on Wednesday evening, as Arteta makes a handful of alterations across the park.

Meanwhile, Slavia have a handful of fitness concerns to take into account for the visit of Arsenal, including experienced winger Ivan Schranz, who has been laid low by an illness for weeks.

Star attacker Lukas Provod also missed the thrashing of Jablonec and is a doubt, as is defender Ange N'Guessan, who came off with an unspecified injury last time out.

From injuries to suspensions, 6ft 7in striker Tomas Chory has been banished by manager Trpisovsky after showing a referee the middle finger during a recent Czech First League fixture against Hradec Kralove; he is not expected to play for the club again.

Slavia Prague possible starting lineup:

Domchak; Vlcek, Holes, Zima; Suleiman, Moses, Sadilek, Kubiak; Ayaosi, Sturm; Nowak

Arsenal possible starting lineup:

Raya; White, Konsa, Gabriel, Hincapie; Lewis-Skelly, Rice; Dowman, Odegaard, Eze; Gyokeres

We say: Slavia Prague 0-3 Arsenal

After Arsenal's second-string team failed to beat a fourth-tier side in the EFL Cup, Arteta should resist the urge to make wholesale changes against a Slavia side whose momentum is growing.

Nevertheless, the Czech champions have been carved open at will in Europe - shipping seven goals thus far - so we can envisage Arsenal replicating their three-goal success from last season.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.