Arteta will need to be careful with his team selectionplaceholder image
Arteta will need to be careful with his team selection | Getty Images
Arsenal could lose an important player for an important game if they are not careful on Tuesday.
Mikel Arteta’s men look unstoppable in their current form, and the Gunners will be strong favourites to continue their strong Champions League start on Tuesday, although the Czech side have picked up two draws from their first three games, proving hard to beat.
For Arsenal, they will be looking to get out of the Czech Republic with a win and with no fresh injuries after a Premier League clash with Burnley that saw Viktor Gyokeres and Martin Zubimendi pick up fresh concerns.
Zubimendi would not be available for this Champions League clash in any case, suspended after reaching his yellow card limit, and Arsenal must now be careful not to lose another ahead of a date with Bayern Munich after this game.
Declan Rice is currently on two yellow cards in the competition, and a yellow card against Slavia Praha would mean he misses the home date with Bayern Munich on November 26. That game could be important if Arsenal want to finish top of the league phase pile.
It will be interesting to see how Arteta manages that suspension risk and whether Rice is rested for the game, at least from the start. The ideal time for Rice to pick up a yellow card is against Bayern given he would then miss the Club Brugge fixture and return to availability for a tricky Inter Milan clash.
Zubimendi’s yellow card last time out was well-timed, and some wondered whether Arteta might tell Rice to also pick up a yellow card to avoid this risk, but having to be without both midfield players would have been a risk when heading to a Czech Republic for what will likely be a physical encounter.
Rice on the Burnley win
Rice spoke to club media about Arsenal’s win over Burnley over the weekend. He said: “I'm so focused on and off the pitch. Every weekend I know how important it is to win football matches. I realise the position we're in and what we can achieve as a club. So I'm doing everything I can, on and off the pitch, to prepare myself and prepare the team to win football matches.
"We always have one goal in this team this season and that's to deliver for the fans, for each other and we're going to keep trying to do that. One game at a time. I'm very happy with where my game's at.
"First half, we were very, very good. Could have been three or four. Second half wasn't our best performance, but showed that other side of the game where we can be resilient, where we can defend for our lives and it really means something by not letting the ball go in the back of our net.
“We've really got that unity and togetherness, not wanting to concede, that's winning us games as well as our attacking threat. It was a game of two halves, but in the end, three points is all that matters. We get home now and recover, ready for Tuesday."
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