Bernd Leno and Mikel Arteta stress importance of beating Slavia Prague to save Arsenal's season

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bernd Leno was contemplating the prospect of Arsenal’s first season without any continental competition since 1995/96. “Our job is to make sure that doesn’t come true because Arsenal belongs to Europe,” the goalkeeper said. “That’s our target. When you think about the future without Arsenal in European competition it doesn’t feel right.”

Arsenal may not be defined by Europe in the same way that Liverpool are, but they have tended to be constants in it. They were Cup Winners’ Cup winners in 1994, finalists in 1995 and sat out European football the following season. Since then, they have been ever-presents, competing in the knockout stages in 18 consecutive years.

That run threatens to come to an ignominious end. Arsenal are ninth in the Premier League. Slavia Prague's injury-time equaliser last week gives them an away goal in their Europa League quarter-final. Slavia have already overcome Leicester City and Rangers. "We're going to have a real battle," Mikel Arteta admitted. "They've knocked out some big teams along the way and fully deserve to be where they are. They showed in the first leg against us that they never give up. This can put us in a position to go into the semi-final of a European competition. This is exactly where this club has to be."

Indeed, Arsene Wenger’s last season featured a Europa League semi-final, Unai Emery’s only full campaign a final. Neither could be deemed a success. Elimination now would reflect decline and render this season a complete failure. A campaign that began amid such optimism, following the FA Cup win and a series of auspicious victories that showed Arteta’s precocity, might end up as arguably Arsenal’s worst since 1975/76. Every subsequent season has contained at least a top-eight finish or a semi-final.

Arsenal’s young players have nevertheless offered some encouragement and there is a futuristic feel to Arteta, the prospect of better days. “Mikel does a great job and the team are fighting for him,” Leno said.

Reaching the last four, where they would face either Dinamo Zagreb or Villarreal, could feel tangible proof of progress, but Arteta is conscious that actions speak louder than words. “Tangible is the right word and the only tangible thing is results,” he said. “Whether you're doing a good job or not, to judge it externally is only going to be judged with results.”

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Martin Odegaard will be assessed to see if they are available. The captain was the talisman of their last triumphant cup run, with braces in the FA Cup semi-final and final. While inconsistent, Arteta’s Arsenal have shown an ability to beat elite teams. “We've shown that in big games, big players have to step in and create the magic moments and you need that,” he said.

Yet the calibre of Arsenal's fitness doubts – one a £60 million forward on £300,000 a week, the other borrowed from Real Madrid – underlines the difference in resources with Slavia. It was Arsenal who spent £50 million on Thomas Partey last year, not the Czech side.

They have nevertheless required some leftfield thinking. While they welcomed the news that Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe are fit, Granit Xhaka may again be required to stand in as a left-back as Arteta looks to find an alternative to the injured Kieran Tierney. He has had to be resourceful in other respects, loaning both Odegaard and Dani Ceballos from Real. Arteta suggested he would be keen to keep both but their future will be determined in the summer. Arsenal cannot be sure of their budget until then.

“With the financial position we've been in we had to find different ways to recruit good players to the club,” Arteta said. “In both cases I'm really happy with both of them and it needs to be decided at the end of the season.”

Having European football would give them a greater budget and make either deal more affordable. If Arsenal have to plan for different scenarios, Arteta claimed he has not considered the worst-case one: that they are exiled from Europe next year. He said: “I don't want to put it in my mind or transmit it to any of the players or anybody at the club.”