Slavia Prague will face Arsenal on Wednesday with a young goalkeeper who had never started a league game a fortnight ago, a midfielder leading the line and their 6ft 7in striker frozen out.
That is the reality for Jindřich Trpišovský before the visit of the Premier League champions to the Fortuna Arena (8pm UK time, 9pm in Prague). Tomáš Chorý will not play for the club again, first-choice goalkeeper Markovič is injured and Lukáš Provod is a doubt after playing through a tear against Mladá Boleslav.
Yet Slavia Prague are in their best spell of the season. They beat Zbrojovka Brno 4-0 in the MOL Cup last Tuesday and won 5-0 at Jablonec on Saturday, so they are five games unbeaten and seven points clear at the top of the Czech league. Europe is a different story: one point from three games, 32nd of 36, and 18 UEFA matches without a win. We covered both sides’ form in our Slavia Prague vs Arsenal preview.
The side that won in Jablonec is the one we expect to see, with a single question mark in defence.
Slavia Prague predicted lineup vs Arsenal
Slavia Prague predicted lineup vs Arsenal (3-4-3): Domchak; Holeš, Zima, N’Guessan; Vlček, Moses, Sadílek, Kubiak; Ayaosi, Nowak, Suleiman
Nazar Domchak: the big-money keeper finally gets his go
Markovič started both Champions League away games, at Sabah and Fenerbahce, but he has since been injured. Domchak made his league debut in the 1-1 draw with Mladá Boleslav on 24 October and followed it with clean sheets against Brno and Jablonec.
Assistant coach Milan Kerbr was glowing after the cup win. “He is young, he came for big money and he was waiting for his chance. But we see in every training session that he has huge quality,” he said. Arsenal will be the biggest test of his career by a distance.
Tomáš Holeš: the old head in a young side
Holeš captained the side against Mladá Boleslav and is one of the few players over 30 in a team whose average age at Jablonec was around 23. He will organise the back three.
Zima: the constant
Zima has been in the back three in both European away games and in Saturday’s win. He came off after 71 minutes in Jablonec with the game long since won, which looked like rest rather than a problem.
Ange N’Guessan: the one real doubt
N’Guessan headed in Oskar Kubiak’s cross for the third goal at Jablonec, then had to be taken off. He started both European away games, so we have pencilled him in, but if he fails a fitness test, Chaloupek, who replaced him on Saturday, or Konečný would come in.
Vlček: protecting the right side
This was the key tweak at Jablonec. Trpišovský said he wanted Mubarak Suleiman higher up the pitch for his runs, so Vlček was brought in to shore up the right flank. “It worked out brilliantly,” the Slavia coach said.
David Moses and Michal Sadílek: the engine room
Moses needed treatment before half-time on Saturday but carried on until the 71st minute, and his recovery tackle stopped a dangerous Jablonec break early on. Sadílek is the organiser. “When Provi isn’t playing, I’m the one in charge of organising our play,” he said after the game, and with Provod a doubt that job falls to him again.
Oskar Kubiak: the wing-back in form
Trpišovský singled Kubiak out on Saturday, praising his “unbelievable progress” and his ability to start and finish attacks in the 88th minute. He also said Kubiak could fill in as the striker, but that Slavia need him on the left.
Emmanuel Ayaosi and Mubarak Suleiman: the Nigerian wingers
Trpišovský told his players before Jablonec that with two Nigerian wingers they would be dangerous, and they were. Ayaosi scored the second and set up the fourth, and his coach said he can “manipulate the ball brilliantly in a small space”. Suleiman, still only 19, scored twice in Jablonec and twice against Brno.
Wiktor Nowak: the stand-in nine
With Chorý gone and Mojmír Chytil needing a rest after Mladá Boleslav, Trpišovský moved Nowak up front, and Slavia have scored nine goals in the two games since. He is not a classic striker and is not strong with his back to goal, his coach admitted, but he links play and fills the box. The downside, Trpišovský said, is that it leaves Slavia a man short in central midfield.
Who misses out for Slavia?
Chorý will not play again for the club after his obscene gesture at the referee against Hradec Králové. Trpišovský made his feelings about the gap clear after the draw in Istanbul, pointing at Fenerbahce’s two big strikers. “In today’s football you have to have both types of striker. They have Lukaku and Muriqi, two tall nines,” he said.
Provod played the Mladá Boleslav game with a tear and missed the next two. On Saturday, Trpišovský said he did not yet know the result of the scan. Ivan Schranz has been ill for weeks, and illness has been going round the squad, with Isife leaving the team hotel on the morning of the Jablonec game.
Who comes off the bench?
Danijel Šturm started in Istanbul and scored the fifth at Jablonec, so the Slovenian international is the obvious first change. Pavel Kačor, who scored the 90th-minute equaliser against Fenerbahce, and Chytil, the one specialist centre-forward left in the squad, are next in line, with David Jurásek another option on the left.
How do Arsenal compare?
For the other half of the team sheet, see our Arsenal predicted lineup vs Slavia Prague. Arsenal won 3-0 at this ground on the same date last season, with a Bukayo Saka penalty and two goals from Mikel Merino, and they come into it after ending their 14-year wait for a league win at Anfield.
Slavia’s back three has been the best part of their recent run, but they have shipped seven goals in three European games. If Domchak copes with the step up, this could be closer than the table suggests.
Slavia Prague predicted lineup vs Arsenal (3-4-3): Domchak; Holeš, Zima, N’Guessan; Vlček, Moses, Sadílek, Kubiak; Ayaosi, Nowak, Suleiman
