Arsenal vs Slavia Prague: 4 talking points from Europa League draw

Arsenal have left themselves with it all to do after conceding a careless late equaliser against Slavia Prague in their 1-1 Europa League first leg home draw on Thursday night. Here are the talking points.

The pre-match meltdown was in full swing little over an hour before kick-off with the decision to leave Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of the side in favour of Alexandre Lacazette as the centre-forward.

That was one of a number of changes with Hector Bellerin also returning after a few weeks out of the squad, while Cedric took over the left-back duties in Kieran Tierney’s absence.

Team selections are just an instructional guide to how the team will play, with the true meaning behind the lineup only visible after the opening few minutes. Even then it wasn’t entirely sure what the plan was.

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Arsenal vs Slavia Prague: 4 talking points from Europa League draw as Nicolas Pepe has goal cancelled out

Bernd Leno was asked to kick long and beat the Slavia Prague press with balls up to Lacazette, few that came off with the visitors comfortable in possession and Arsenal unable to create anything of note in a flat opening 45 minutes.

Bukayo Saka had a great chance when clean through on the angle, but the one weak point of his game, finishing, let him down when he bent an effort wide of the post.

After the break the Gunners had more control but the issue of having an option in the box remained with the two wide players having acres of space between them in advanced areas and nothing to aim for centrally.

Mikel Arteta changed things around in the 77th minute, bringing on pace to exploit Slavia’s spaces in behind, a move that produced the opening goal with Aubameyang demonstrating strong link up play to feed Nicolas Pepe, who used speed and skill in equal measures to lift the ball over Ondřej Kolář four minutes from time.

However, a failure to clear their lines saw Tomáš Holeš score a crucial away goal deep into stoppage time and leave Arsenal with it all to do in the reverse leg.

Mikel Arteta’s Unwillingness to Change

For a club that had one manager for an unprecedented length of time, certain comparisons will always be drawn. For Arteta, his insistence to stick to his original gameplan when the on-field circumstances are begging for him to alter the approach is very Wenger-esque.

It took Arteta until the 77th minute to make the changes this encounter was screaming out for, even if Gabriel Martinelli entered the fray four minutes prior.

Arsenal were having incredible joy on the break, at least in terms of the numbers, but were hamstrung by the frightening lack of pace of both Willian and Lacazette on the break.

The Frenchman would come so short to link play and release Saka or Emile Smith Rowe either side, leaving the duo with it all to do as they aimed to angle their way into the box. Eventually, he stayed further forward but if you’re looking for someone to release from turnovers, Lacazette is last on the list.

As soon as the changes were made it took literal seconds to produce a result, with Pepe’s energy in behind and Martinelli’s constant movement off the ball disrupting the Slavia backline.

There will not have been a keyboard untouched or a voice box left silent in pleading for these alterations to have been made sooner. It was clear as day.

Arteta’s in game management remains a weakness on his CV.