Viktor Gyokeres marked a rare start with a goal and an assist as Arsenal won 2-1 at Slavia Prague in the Champions League on Wednesday night, Noni Madueke scoring the opener. According to the Evening Standard, the result lifted Mikel Arteta's side to third in the league phase table.

Gyokeres takes his chance

The Evening Standard reported that this was only Gyokeres's sixth start of the season, and that his sole goal of the campaign before Prague had come in the Carabao Cup defeat at Fleetwood. The Daily Matt noted that the Swede, who struck 21 times across all competitions last season, has largely been on the bench this term while Arteta has favoured Kai Havertz through the middle.

His contribution at the Fortuna Arena was decisive. The Matt credited him with two goals and three assists across his last five outings, while the Standard highlighted that his goal in the latter portion of the opening half was his first open-play Champions League goal since he found the net against Kairat Almaty in January.

Two goals before the break

Madueke put Arsenal ahead in the ninth minute.

The Slavia goalkeeper then blocked from Gyokeres, tipped a Mikel Merino drive over the bar and made a reflex save from the same player. Slavia had a brief opening eight minutes before the interval when Tomas Holes got free at a long throw and poked wide.

Arsenal went straight up the other end and doubled the lead. The accounts again disagree over the link-up: the Matt described a one-two involving Declan Rice, while the Standard described an exchange of passes with Merino, before Gyokeres entered the box, opened his body and clipped the ball past Domchak and in off the far post.

Rotation, Saliba and Dowman

Arteta made six changes to the side that beat Liverpool 1-0 at the weekend, with Ben White and Piero Hincapie starting in defence, Martin Zubimendi and Merino in midfield and Eberechi Eze behind Gyokeres.

Bukayo Saka was absent with a thigh problem, which has given Madueke an extended run on the right. Max Dowman, suspended domestically but available in Europe after his red card at Fleetwood, came on late.

A nervous ending

Arsenal had been comfortable but retreated after the break. Gabriel cleared substitute Ange N'Guessan's header off the line, and VAR reviewed a possible penalty after Merino collided with Wiktor Nowak, ruling it an accidental clash of heads. Raya had to stretch to push Oskar Kubiak's header against a post.

The clean sheet went in the closing stages when Nowak converted David Jurasek's cross. The Matt noted that Slavia's winless run in the Champions League now stands at 23 matches, stretching back to their first fixture in the competition in 2007.

Photo: Bryan Berlin via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, resized.