Predicting the score of Slavia vs Arsenal in the Champions League

Overview

Arsenal will travel to Fortuna Arena to face Slavia Prague in the Champions League with an extremely impressive streak of form.

The Gunners extended their winning streak to nine in all competitions after beating Burnley 2-0 in the Premier League last weekend, thanks to first-half goals from Viktor Gyokeres and Declan Rice.

The Gunners also have an impressive record against representatives from the Czech Republic, unbeaten in 10 confrontations with 8 wins. They scored a total of 27 goals and conceded only 3, while keeping a clean sheet in 8 matches.

Defensive solidity has been the foundation for Arsenal's impressive journey this season. They have won all three of their first Champions League games without conceding a goal - a tally only reached by Inter Milan.

Mikel Arteta and his team are aiming to win all four of their opening Champions League games for the first time since the 2005-06 season. Historically, only Leeds United have done this in European competition - winning four consecutive games without conceding, in 1969-70.

According to statistics, only Bayern Munich (1.37) have faced a lower expected goals conceded (xG) than Arsenal (1.51) in the Champions League this season. Arteta's side are also one of two teams to have suffered the fewest shots on target (6, level with Manchester City).

Gabriel Martinelli has scored in all three of Arsenal's Champions League games this season. In the history of the team, only Ian Wright has scored in the first 4 matches of a European Cup campaign.

Slavia Prague clearly understand that they are facing a huge challenge. The team has not won in the last 14 Champions League games (D6, L8) since their first win in the competition in September 2007 against FCSB.

This is the longest winless streak among the 36 teams participating in the Champions League this season. At the same time, it is also the longest streak of a Czech club, equal to the sad record that Sparta Prague set from February 2004 to December 2005.

Jindrich Trpisovsky's team is one of four teams that have not scored in the second and third matches. They also have the lowest expected goals (xG) in the same period - only 0.84.

Even the average xG value per Slavia shot was at the lowest level in the entire tournament, reaching only 0.04 - a figure that clearly showed a deadlock in attack.

Head-to-head record

Slavia Prague have never won four meetings with Arsenal (2 draws, 2 losses). This team has only one other opponent that they have never won more times in the European arena. That was Anderlecht, with five meetings without a single win.

Slavia's home record against English representatives is also not very promising. They have won just one of their eight (D2 L6) against English sides in European competition, and have gone seven consecutive games without a win since beating Leeds United 2-1 in the UEFA Cup in March 2000.

Since that match, Slavia have only scored one goal in seven home games against English sides. This is a number that shows their deadlock when facing representatives from the Premier League.

Score prediction: Slavia 0-3 Arsenal