Slavia Prague Cut Arsenal Joy Short At Emirates

All of the drama came late on at the Emirates Stadium as Arsenal and Slavia Prague drew 1-1 in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.

Nicolas Pepe looked to have given the Gunners a late win when he bagged an 86th-minute opener, but Tomas Holes scored a vital away goal in stoppage time to give the Czech side a slight advantage heading into the second leg.

Alexandre Lacazette had the first chance of the night but was closed down before having the chance to take aim, with the visitors then having a couple of chances of their own.

Arsenal found themselves on top for much of the opening 45 minutes, and Bukayo Saka probably should have opened the scoring when he put wide from a tight angle. Lacazette would have felt similarly frustrated when he somehow crashed his effort onto the crossbar after breaking through on goal.

Having mounted serious pressure, Mikel Arteta’s side eventually broke through when Pepe netted late on. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang fed the Ivorian who did well to delicately lift over the oncoming goalkeeper.

But they might have been better off not scoring and taking a scoreless draw into the second leg, because that opener brought the Czechs onto them and they drew level in storage time. A corner came in and bounced off Pepe, falling to Holes who headed in at the back post.