Slavia manager Jindrich Trpisovsky promised blood and thunder from his side against Arsenal, and the raucous Fortuna Arena crowd fed into that in the opening stages.
Arsenal didn’t look overly fazed by the tempo of the game and did go close to opening the scoring within the opening two minutes when Gabriel Magalhaes - famed for heading home set-pieces in recent times - unleashed a left-footed volley from the edge of the area which whistled narrowly wide.
Slavia offered some attacking intent in flashes, but it was the Gunners who created the biggest openings, with Bukayo Saka twice stinging the palms of Jakub Markovic midway through the first half.
Mikel Arteta’s men were given a golden chance to take the lead on the half-hour mark when Gabriel’s near-post header was adjudged to have been blocked by the hand of Lukas Provod.
Referee Aliyar Aghayev missed the initial incident but didn’t hesitate to point to the spot after consulting the pitchside monitor, and Saka made no mistake in arrowing the resulting penalty into the bottom corner.
It was something of a rare open-play goal that doubled Arsenal’s advantage just 36 seconds into the second half.
Leandro Trossard was instrumental in the build-up, planting a perfect cross onto the boot of Mikel Merino six yards from goal, a chance he didn’t pass up as he thundered into the back of the net.
The game was essentially wrapped up at that point, given Arsenal’s defensive prowess, but with a raft of injuries and a paper-thin bench, Arteta didn’t have the luxury to make wholesale changes with half an eye on the weekend’s clash with Sunderland.
He did choose to introduce summer signing Eberechi Eze, yet it was two of his starters who combined for the Gunners’ third, as Declan Rice’s delivery looked destined for the arms of Markovic before Merino nipped in and headed home his second goal of the evening.
Arsenal’s focus switched to keeping the ball out of their own goal in the closing stages, and they had to survive a late scare when Aghayev was awarded a penalty after Ben White and Provod collided in the area. However, after a swift check of the pitchside monitor, and to the relief of everyone of an Arsenal persuasion, he overturned his decision.
Having also introduced 15-year-old Max Dowman, who became the youngest-ever player in Champions League history, it was a near-perfect night for the Gunners as they temporarily moved to the top of the league phase table.
Slavia, meanwhile, remain winless in the tournament proper this term, and are already on the brink of an early exit.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Mikel Merino (Arsenal)
