Arsenal v Slavia Prague player ratings: Bukayo Saka and Nicolas Pepe provide the spark for Gunners as Tomas Holes scores vital away goal

A 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium leaves the quarter-final clash in the balance ahead of second leg

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  ARSENAL PLAYER RATINGS: Bernd Leno 6 - Not tested enough from Slavia Prague’s tame efforts on target. Not much to do other than pick the ball out of the back of the net in the last minute of the game. Reuters

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  Hector Bellerin 7 - A strong performance in both attack and defence. Prague rarely threatened down the Gunners’ right-flank while struggling against the Bellerin’s overlaps. Reuters

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  Rob Holding 8 - A strong defensive performance from Holding who also saw a lot of the ball and played a number of key passes in behind the Slavia Prague defence. AP

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  Gabriel Magalhaes 7 - Showed his ability to step up with the ball out of defence and defended solid throughout. Kuchta almost troubled the Brazilian before he showed good recovery pace to stop a dangerous opportunity. Getty Images

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  Cedric Soares 6 - Filling in for the injured Kieran Tierney was never going to be easy and Cedric looked strong in defence until a vital error led to the equaliser. EPA

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  Thomas Partey 5 - A sloppy performance from the midfielder who turned over possession too often when under no pressure. Better opposition would have punished his carelessness on the ball. EPA

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  Granit Xhaka 6 - Provided structure in the Arsenal midfield which helped Mikel Arteta’s side dictate the game. The Gunners' look stronger with Xhaka in the side but are still unable to find a clean sheet. Reuters

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  Willian 6 - Came close with a free-kick which came back off the post but should have looked to attack Alexander Bah more often. Getty Images

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  Emile Smith-Rowe 6 - A quiet game for the talented youngster who is capable of much more than what was shown on Thursday night. PA

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  Bukayo Saka 8 - Arsenal’s brightest spark as Saka constantly looked to attack space and exploit passive defending from Jan Boril. The English winger should have scored after getting on the end of a through ball in the first half. EPA

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  Alexandre Lacazette 5 - Despite some good moments of pressing up and link-up play, the Frenchman was wasteful and missed a golden one-on-one opportunity in the second half. AFP

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  SUBS: Gabriel Martinelli (Willian, 73) N/A - Stretched the Prague defence down the left-hand side and looked much brighter once Aubameyang and Pepe were introduced. AFP

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  Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Lacazette, 78) N/A - Could have scored immediately when linking up with Nicolas Pepe but struck wide of the far post. An assist late-on should have sealed the game for Arsenal. EPA

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  Mohamed Elneny (Partey, 78) N/A – Elneny didn't have much to do with Slavia looking to take a draw until the 89th minute. Reuters

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  Nicolas Pepe (Saka, 78) 8 - An instant spark. Arsenal looked ready to create something every time the Ivorian winger had the ball and, eventually, they did. Pepe finished calmly over Ondrej Kolar in the 89th minute. AFP

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  Dani Ceballos (Smith-Rowe, 89) N/A - Came on to see the game out before Slavia Prague found the net in the dying embers of the game. PA

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  SLAVIA PRAGUE PLAYER RATINGS: Ondrej Kolar 5 - Didn’t have much to do with the majority of Arsenal’s chances being fluffed but couldn’t make the save when called upon for Arsenal’s goal. EPA

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  Alexander Bah 7 - Pivotal to some of Prague’s best-attacking moves with overlapping play down the right-hand side but the Czech side were unable to make the most of the few occasions in behind enemy lines. Kept Willian quiet. AFP

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  David Zima 6 - Struggled when tasked against Bukayo Saka and was lucky not to give away a penalty early in the second half. Made a mess of a challenge with Aubameyang which lead to Arsenal’s first goal. AFP

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  Tomas Holes 8 - The 28-year-old defender dealt well with the majority of defensive situations and scored what could prove to be a vital goal for Slavia Prague. AP

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  Jan Boril 5 - Struggled against Bukayo Saka and defended too passively. Saka was able to get into dangerous crossing areas too frequently and got in behind the defence for the best chance of the first half. Getty Images

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  Lukas Provod 7 - Prague’s best technical player on the night and was able to get his side into some promising positions amid a tough midfield battle. The danger of the midfielder's left foot eventually looped a ball for Tomas Holes to head home from a corner to secure a vital away goal. AFP

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  Jakub Hromada 6 - Hassled attackers to upset the flow of Arsenal but struggled to transition the ball into attack. Replaced at half-time. PA

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  Oscar Dorley 5 - Linked well with Alexander Bah at times but was unable to trouble Cedric Soares at any point in the game. EPA

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  Nicolae Stanciu 6 - A quiet evening for the Romanian playmaker who struggled against the double pivot of Xhaka and Partey. Eventually replaced after being unable to create a big chance for the Czech side. AFP

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  Peter Olayinka 5 - Unable to trouble Hector Bellerin which resulted in the winger spending the majority of the game helping out the defence. Reuters

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  Abdallah Sima 6 - Struggled to get into the game in the first half with the majority of Slavia Prague moves coming by way of counter-attacks. Unable to threaten Arsenal’s centre-back pairing despite working tirelessly. PA

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  SUBS: Petr Sevcik (Hromada, 45) 6 - Wasted Slavia Prague’s best chance of the game after dragging a cut-back wide of the post. Getty Images

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  Ondrej Lingr (Dorley, 69) 6 – Wasn't involved too much with Arsenal taking over the game in the latter stages and could have done more to help cope with the threat of Martinelli (no match photo available). PA

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  Jan Kuchta (Sima, 69) 6 - Provided a different threat for Slavia Prague with the target man looking to win flick-ons and create mayhem in the box but rarely got the better of Arsenal's defence. PA

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  Lukas Masopust (Stanciu, 84) – Didn't do much to help Slavia's hopes of taking a goalless draw back to the home leg. A difficult game to join in the 84th minute where the tempo was at its highest (no match photo avilable). PA

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  Ibrahim Traore (Olayinka, 86) N/A) - Not enough time to make an impact on the game as Arsenal had taken full control by the time Traore was introduced (no match photo avilable). PA

Tomas Holes headed a stoppage-time equaliser as Slavia Prague secured a 1-1 draw away to Arsenal in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday.

It looked as though substitute Nicolas Pepe's 86th-minute effort had given the hosts a narrow advantage to take to the Czech Republic for next week's second leg. But Holes headed home to deflate Arsenal and keep the tie balanced on a knife edge.

An often subdued game was punctuated by good chances for both sides with Arsenal guilty of wasteful finishing.

Bukayo Saka curled an effort wide in the first half while Willian and Alexandre Lacazette were both denied by the woodwork for Mikel Arteta's side after the break.

Slavia had their moments and Petr Sevcik squandered a good chance to put them ahead while Lukas Provod had a shot turned against the woodwork shortly before Holes equalised.

Reflecting on the individual performances at the Emirates Stadium, Adam Brown has provided his player ratings in the photo gallery above. To move on to the next photo, click on the arrows or if using a mobile device, simply swipe.