We made it four wins out of four in the Champions League, and equalled a club record for eight consecutive clean sheets, with a 3-0 win in the Czech capital.
Mikel Merino – starting up front in place of the injured Viktor Gyokeres – netted a second-half double to extend his incredible goalscoring feats this year.
Bukayo Saka had earlier given us a first-half lead, scoring from the penalty spot after Gabriel Magalhaes saw his header deflected away via an errant hand.
Once again, we didn’t concede so much as a shot on target, and there was even time for Max Dowman to become the youngest player in Champions League history, when he came on for the final 20 minutes
Early defending
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We came into the game with bucketsful of confidence, having won our last nine games in all competitions, not conceding in any of the last seven.
And Gabriel nearly gave us the perfect start when his hooked shot from the edge of the area went just wide in the first minute.
But the Czech league leaders and reigning champions looked to assert themselves early and worked themselves into shooting positions four times in the opening 10 minutes, but missed the target each time.
Physically imposing centre forward Tomas Chory looked up for the fight, going up against Gabriel.
Saka on the spot
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We soon began to take control. Saka forced a couple of saves from Jakub Markovic when breaking into the area. The second resulted in a corner that Leandro Trossard flicked over the bar at the near post.
Saka had looked our most lively forward and he broke the deadlock from the penalty spot just after the half hour.
Lukas Provod’s arm was deemed to be in an unnatural position when Gabriel’s header struck it inside the area, and a penalty was given after the referee was sent to the VAR monitor.
Saka took his time before firing low into the bottom right corner. It’s the fourth consecutive Champions League game in which he has netted, and it took his overall tally in the competition to 12 games from just 20 starts.
Lightning restart
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Another player with an impressive goalscoring record of late is Merino, and he doubled our lead with the first attack of the second half.
Starting up front again in place of the injured Viktor Gyokeres, he volleyed home Leandro Trossard’s left wing cross from close range. The Spaniard had ghosted in between two defenders to notch his 18th goal of the calendar year for club and country.
The move all began when Christian Norgaard won the ball in our own half and quickly released Declan Rice. The second half was just 35 seconds old.
20 minutes later, Merino did it again. This time Rice swung the ball in from a central position, Markovic jumped up with the Spaniard, but made a mess of claiming the ball, and Merino headed in.
Dowman makes history
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That was the signal for Mikel Arteta to make a triple change, with Dowman sent on for his Champions League debut. In the process, he became the youngest player in the competition’s history, at the age of 15 years and 308 days.
He was joined on the pitch for the final 10 minutes by fellow Hale Ender Andre Harriman-Annous.
The hosts thought they had won a penalty late on, for a foul by Ben White, but the referee was again called to the VAR monitor, and reversed the decision.
So the clean sheet run goes on. Eight in a row equals a club record that has stood since 1903.
What’s next
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Our third consecutive away game is this Saturday, away to high-flying Sunderland in the Premier League. Our next Champions League fixture is at home to FC Bayern after the November international break.
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