Arsenal will be banned from playing Slavia Prague on Czech soil next season due to a new UEFA rule change. The Gunners are targeting a further three points in the Champions League as they gear up for a tough test at the Fortuna Arena on Wednesday. It is a well-known fixture for Mikel Arteta's side, having faced the same opponents away from home last November.

Arsenal will be hopeful of replicating their previous encounter, which saw a Bukayo Saka penalty and a Mikel Merino brace steer the Gunners to a commanding 3-0 victory.

The Premier League champions reclaimed domestic top spot with a 1-0 win over Liverpool on Sunday, ending their Anfield hoodoo, and will approach Wednesday's clash with considerable confidence. Nevertheless, Arsenal will be prohibited from meeting their forthcoming opponents on Czech soil next season.

A Champions League rule change introduced last season prevents the same home side from being drawn against the same opponent in the league phase of the competition for three successive years.

While Arsenal would still be allowed to host Slavia Prague next year, they would be forbidden from travelling to the Czech club as the away side, unless the two teams meet during the latter stages of the tournament.

Paragraph 16.03 of last season's Champions League regulations states: "UEFA administration may determine alternative conditions for the draw in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee and may adapt any of the conditions of the draw to avoid deadlock situations and/or take into account any relevant constraints in light of decisions taken by the UEFA Executive Committee.

"The UEFA Club Competitions Committee has determined an additional condition that may be applicable to the UEFA Champions League draw for the 2026/27 season, deciding that any individual fixture between the same two teams may not be repeated in the same competition with the same home team for three consecutive seasons.

"This means that if any teams that already played against each other in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in the 2024/25 season are again drawn against each other, with the same home team, in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in this 2025/26 season, those teams will not be able to be drawn against each other with the same home team in the 2026/27 season."

Arsenal are looking to return to winning form in the Champions League after their latest 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich.

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The Gunners came agonisingly close to claiming the prestigious European trophy for the first time in the club's history last season, and Arteta is expressing confidence in his squad following their battling victory over Liverpool at the weekend.

"Just loving the mission," the Arsenal manager said. "And the mission was something that we didn't accomplish in 14 years. And there were reasons for that. Some of them were psychological problems. Some of them were related to the quality that we showed on the pitch, certain moments or decisions.

"And we knew that we need to nail absolutely all of them. And we're going to have to navigate through periods that we're going to have to suffer because they are extremely good at doing that and creating those vertical attacks, those chaos moments for almost nothing. And you really need to enjoy that.

"If you don't, there will be a moment they will switch up and they will punish you. And yeah, I think the way we competed and played and the chances that we generated as well, it was really impressive. So I'm really happy."