Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Burnley at the weekend extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points, and the feeling around camp is as positive as ever. The Gunners are unbeaten in their last 12 matches, during which they have secured 11 wins - the only draw came against Man City, but even that was a respectable result against Pep Guardiola’s men. 

Mikel Arteta’s side have picked up notable wins in that stretch, including a 4-0 thrashing of Atletico Madrid and a 2-1 victory away to Newcastle.

Arsenal have made significant improvements under Arteta in recent years - in fact, they faced off against Slavia Prague in the Europa League not too long ago. The Gunners won 4-0 when those sides last met at the Fortuna Arena back in 2021, and the only survivor from that starting XI was Bukayo Saka, who even managed to get on the scoresheet that night.

The Gunners were totally dominant at Turf Moor last weekend, as they beat Burnley 2-0 on their travels. The hosts were unable to give their fans much to get excited about, as they mustered up just three shots which amounted to 0.42 xG. The Clarets were well and truly outclassed, completely suffocated by the visitors and rarely able to progress the ball out of their own half. 

That has been a familiar trend for Mikel Arteta’s men this season - they are conceding just 8.53 shots per game on average in all competitions, and only five out of their 15 opponents have managed at least 10 shots. 

Arsenal have been relentless going forward, and are averaging 4.87 shots on target per 90 this season, rising to 6.33 in the Champions League. The Gunners have hit this mark in seven of their last eight games in all competitions.

Once again, it is likely to be one-way traffic in Czechia on Tuesday night, and the hosts will have to endure wave after wave of attacks against the Premier League leaders. If Slavia opt for a low block and look to play on the counter, they will spend most of the game camped in their own box, which will invite Arsenal’s midfield players into advanced positions. 

Declan Rice becomes a target in games like this - the 26-year-old fancies himself from distance, with five of his nine efforts in the Premier League coming from outside the box, while he will also be on free kicks. 

Rice should be able to pick up some promising positions in and around the edge of the Slavia Prague penalty area, which increases the chances of him taking a shot. Rice has had a shot in each of his last five starts for Arsenal, while he has also scored two goals in that stretch. This match presents a good opportunity for him to improve on those tallies.

Myles Lewis-Skelly hasn’t featured regularly for Arsenal in the Premier League this season, yet to be named in the starting lineup at all, but he has got a big role for midweek games, rotating in for Riccardo Calafiori at left back. 

The Englishman has an incredible history for drawing fouls - including three fouls won against Brighton in his last start, and six fouls drawn against Olympiacos on matchday two of the Champions League. He is averaging 3.22 fouls drawn per 90 this season in limited minutes this term. Even last season, when he featured more regularly, Lewis-Skelly was fouled on average 3.12 times per game in all competitions, with a tendency to go down easily under contact. 

David Moses will be his primary matchup here as a right midfielder, and although his average of 0.9 fouls per 90 in all competitions is nothing to write home about, his matchup here is too hard to ignore.

Such a large proportion of Arsenal’s goals have come from dead ball situations this season - they haven’t been particularly enterprising from open play. Their over-reliance on set-pieces is one potential criticism you can give the Gunners, but it is worth remembering the magnitude of injuries they have had to contend with this term.

Especially in the tougher matchups, Arsenal almost look to forge out as many scenarios as possible where they can get their centre halves up and lump the ball into the box. Slavia Prague have built a reputation of being quite a stubborn defensive unit, and travelling to the Fortuna Arena is no easy task for visiting teams, meaning Arsenal corners become a target.

The Gunners are averaging 6.33 corners per game this season in all competitions, rising to 6.86 when playing away.

That includes some notable corner counts of 12 at St James’ Park against Newcastle, and 10 against Fulham at Craven Cottage. Gabriel has been the primary target of the Arsenal set pieces, as he got on the scoresheet against Newcastle and registered an assist against Fulham. 

That has been an emerging trend in recent weeks - Gabriel is usually making his move towards the back post, and looking to knock the ball back into a dangerous area, rather than going for goal himself. 

The Brazilian has actually registered an assist in three of his last four starts for Arsenal, all of which have come in similar circumstances. Gabriel managed an assist against Fulham, Burnley and Atletico Madrid in that exact manner, while he also got on the scoresheet against the Spanish side. The pinpoint accuracy of Declan Rice crosses makes Gabriel’s job a lot easier, and Arsenal are incredibly well drilled from dead ball scenarios.

Jindrich Stanek was a standout performer in between the sticks for Slavia Prague on matchday one of the Champions League, as he racked up a total of eight saves to earn his side a point against Bodo/Glimt. However, the 29-year-old suffered a muscle injury soon after that performance, so lost his starting spot to Jakub Markovic. 

Markovic has started each of the last five games for the Czechia side, during which he has landed this selection in two of those - notably, he made five saves against Atalanta in his previous European outing, preventing 2.46 xG in total to keep his clean sheet intact and earn Slavia Prague a point.

The 24-year-old should have plenty of work to do on Tuesday night against a strong Arsenal side, especially given that the Gunners have forced a total of 14 saves from the opposing goalkeeper in their last three away matches.