Arsenal’s blistering recent form continued in the UEFA Champions League as the Gunners comfortably dispatched Slavia Prague at the Fortuna Arena on matchday four. The hosts were unbeaten on their home patch since last December, but Mikel Arteta’s men wouldn’t let them make it one year undefeated, with a demolition job on enemy territory.
Arsenal’s Comfortable Night in Prague
Slavia would put the pressure on early on without creating too much, but their hopes were soon to be dashed. Captain Bukayo Saka slotted home from the penalty spot after 32 minutes, following VAR’s spotting of a handball in the penalty area. And from there, the visiting Gunners never looked back.
A second-half brace from Mikel Merino secured a resounding 3-0 win for Arsenal, securing not only their fourth win on the spin to start the 2025/26 Champions League campaign, but also securing top spot with online betting sites on their list of UCL favorites. The latest online sports betting at Bovada odds now make Arsenal the 9/2 favorites to leave Budapest with a first-ever Champions League crown next May, in addition to the American bookie also pricing the Gunners as 1/2 favorites to win the Premier League for the first time in 19 years.
Arsenal’s fourth straight win in the competition was notable for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was the fourth consecutive game in which the Gunners haven’t conceded a goal on the continental stage. The result also puts Arsenal one away from matching their all-time Champions League record win streak. But what’s the current record? Let’s take a look.
Gunners Win Five Straight En Route to Maiden Final Appearance
The 2005/06 season was, without question, Arsenal’s finest ever in the UEFA Champions League. There were some early issues, though; the club’s decision to pivot toward youth, with the sale of captain Patrick Vieira at the start of the campaign, triggered a downturn in fortunes in the Premier League. But despite sitting in fifth place domestically for much of the season, Arsene Wenger’s men shone on the continental stage.
The European campaign began with five straight victories in the group stage, a record that remains to this day. The Gunners, however, benefited from what can only be called an incredibly favourable group, having been drawn alongside Swiss side FC Thun, Czech outfit FC Thun, and finally Dutch giants Ajax. Arsenal won their first five clashes home and away against those sides, conceding just three goals, before a 0-0 draw in Amsterdam on their final matchday ended the winning streak.
As we all remember, however, Arsenal weren’t just satisfied with that; there was more to come. Wenger’s men were about to embark upon a campaign for the ages, with talismanic captain Thierry Henry and teenage midfielder Cesc Fabregas driving the North London outfit past Real Madrid, Juventus, and debutants Villareal to reach the final for the first time. Unfortunately, though, there was to be a sting in the tale, as a Henrik Larsson-inspired comeback in Paris took the trophy to Catalonia, with Barcelona beating the ten men of Arsenal 2-1.
Other Five Game Winning Streaks
On two other occasions, Arsenal have managed to pick up five Champions League wins on the spin. The first time came the year before that epic run to the final as the Invinicibles of 2003/04 looked to stamp their authority on the continent as well as just the Premier League.
The European campaign, however, couldn’t have gotten off to much of a worse start. Arsenal went without a win through their first three group stage games, losing two of them to Inter Milan and Dynamo Kyiv. As such, Henry and Co. needed to mount a winning streak if they were to progress to the knockout stages, and luckily, they were up to the task.
The Gunners won their three remaining group stage fixtures to top Group B, with the highlight being a 5-1 drubbing of Inter in the San Siro, led by Henry’s sensational hat trick. But the winning run wouldn’t stop there. Arsenal then won home and away against Spanish outfit Celta Vigo in the round of 16 to take their win streak to five. But just as Highbury was beginning to dream of the trophy, a Chelsea transformed by the billions of owner Roman Abramovich secured a famous victory in the quarterfinals to send the Gunners packing.
Last season, Mikel Arteta also led Arsenal to five consecutive wins, with the newly revamped initial league phase providing plenty more opportunities to pick up victories. After a run of two wins, one draw, and one defeat throughout the first four, The Gunners burst into life, reeling off four straight victories to close out the opening round and secure third spot in the table. Then, a 7-1 drubbing of PSV Eindhoven, without a recognized striker no less, took that run to five, before a draw in the reverse fixture ended the run.