Laura Woods forced to apologise over TNT coverage of Arsenal Champions League clash
Slavia Praha and Arsenal have been battling it out in their Champions League clash, but things went wrong for TNT Sports commentary team out in Czechia
by Patrick Austen-Hardy · The MirrorTTNT Sport presenter Laura Woods was forced to apologise after their commentary microphones malfunctioned during Arsenal's away clash with Slavia Praha in the Champions League. The Gunners have been out in Czechia facing off against the leaders of the Chance Liga.
While the north Londoners had not put a foot wrong on the pitch, the same could not be said for the TNT Sport team. On commentary duty was England commentator Sam Matterface and Arsenal Invincible Martin Keown.
While both were speaking into the microphones, there was an echo coming through the audio of the broadcast, which significantly hampered its acoustics. TNT producers were forced to mute Matterface and Keown to sort out the issue.
This prompted Woods to take control and apologise for the situation. The audio then turned to her, ex-Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves and former Lioness Anita Asante.
The former talkSPORT host said: "Ladies and gentleman, as you can tell, we are having problems with Martin and Sam's microphones over there.
"So I am going to introduce our own commentary team from the studio, Owen Hargreaves and Anita Asante to talk us through what we have seen so far."
Hargreaves jokingly turned to the ex-darts and boxing presenter and said: "I thought you've always wanted to be a commentator," to which Woods replied: "Absolutely never."
After a few minutes, broadcast engineers managed to sort out the problem and bring Matterface and Keown back. It came just in time as the Gunners went on to take the lead in contentious fashion a matter of moments later.
Lukáš Provod was deemed to have committed a handball offence after William Saliba flicked on a near-post corner which struck the Slavia captain's head and then hand. Referee Aliyar Aghayev consulted the pitch-side VAR monitor and quickly pointed to the spot.
Saka, wearing the captain's armband in Martin Odegaard's absence, stepped up and fired a perfect penalty into the bottom right corner. The Gunners had began the game slowly, struggling to break through the stubborn Czechians.
Arsenal came into the contest with a perfect record in the Champions League. In their first three matches, they have beaten Athletic Club, Atletico Madrid and Olympiacos, scoring eight goals and conceding zero. Before the match, Arteta challenged his side to keep their winning run going.
He said: "We are where we want to be in the Premier League, Champions League and the Carabao Cup, the three competitions that we have been involved in and continued the good momentum we are in. We know the difficulty of the match tomorrow, especially the atmosphere here [Fortuna Arena], against a team that have not lost in the domestic league and had some good results in the Champions League, so it will be a tough match.
"There is very good energy, there is confidence but as well there is the understanding of how difficult it is to win, win and keep winning. We are very aware of the difficulty of every challenge that we have and tomorrow we have a big one."
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
Sky Sports deal
Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package
£35 (was £49)
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £336 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games next season, an increase of up to 100 more.