Arsenal and Slavia Prague have kept clean sheets in all of their previous five games…
Slavia Prague head coach Jindrich Trpisovsky has lamented the absence of Super Eagles defender Igoh Ogbu in his side’s clash against Arsenal this evening, Soccernet.ng reports.
Mikel Arteta’s men have won nine straight games across all competitions, conceding just one goal in that run.
Additionally, the Gunners are the leading goalscorers from set-pieces (11) in the English Premier League this season.
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With Ogbu out of action until the end of November due to a hamstring injury, Prague’s head coach revealed that the aerial power of the Nigerian defender would’ve been very useful in playing against the record FA Cup Champions.
Prague will miss Ogbu’s impact against Arsenal
Trpisovsky, in his pre-match conference, revealed his side would’ve prepared differently if Ogbu was fit.
“By missing a lot of players, you don’t have that many opportunities to play with the line-up. If Igoh Ogbu, the most dominant player in the air, it would be different,” the 49-year-old said in quotes revealed by iSport Blesk.
“Arsenal have standards that’ve been completely blown away. I’ve never seen anything like this.
“They combine strength, height, timing, head play, but mainly the execution of Declan Rice, it is simply fantastic.
“In addition, they can also react to where the best headers of the opponent stand and change the space.
“Of the ten deliveries, he will put ten in the right territory. When Fulham felt pretty good in the match, Arsenal helped themselves to yet another standard.
“It will be big work for our players, especially in terms of the optimal position. The goalkeeper must also help us.
“It is necessary to look in the book, go page by page and hit it everywhere. The aerial activity will also be important. That’s what we want to see. Then we’ll see the reality on the field.”
Additionally, the Czech manager called for support from his home crowd to help defeat an almost ‘unbeatable’ Arsenal team at the Fortuna Arena tonight.
“If I had to say who is the most dangerous of Arsenal, we won’t be able to get a training session in two hours.
“I’ll try to generalise it, then. They’re an advanced team that controls matches; they have great technical quality, and the players are big, strong, and fast.
“Now they are in top form; they do not let the opponents finish. They have the best set-piece opportunities from Rice’s deliveries, so they can help themselves like this.
“If I said Inter was strong from the standards, then in the case of Arsenal, add an extra percentage. From my point of view, they’re the best team with the best sporting form in the world.
“Also, the most balanced, the most complex at the moment. We can talk about any of their games in superlatives.
“They have the foundation of the team built and complement it every year where they need it.
“I am simply fascinated by the absolute technical quality, the control of the match, plus the quality of the wing-making runs,” the ex-Slovan Liberec coach concluded.
Slavia Prague are without a win in the UEFA Champions League this season, while Arsenal have won all three games without conceding a goal.
