Arsenal sealed a comfortable victory against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium by a two-goal margin in an encounter which was expected to feature a lot of goals. Arsenal and the Michu-inspired Swansea City searched for goals on both ends of the green pitch only to see the score-board nullify either teams till Nacho Monreal broke the dead-lock late into the second half.
Swansea created clear-cut chances twice in the ninety minutes of nail-biting football between the two genuine contestants. Angel Rangel spurned an open opportunity to put the Welsh outfit upfront from a sublime pass from Ki Sung-Yueng as he failed to test Lukasz Fabianski’s credibility by shooting wide. Carl Jenkinson got off the abuse that he’d receive from the Arsenal supporters as he played a loose ball which was caught by Jonathan de Guzman and the former Charlton Athletic defender must thank Michu for failing to terrorize Arsenal’s Polish goal-keeper in Lukasz Fabianski despite tantalizing Per Mertesacker. Swansea City failed to make any clear-cut chances after Michu was narrowly caught offside.
Arsenal, on the other hand, created too many chances for themselves only to see the ball hit the bar and get blocked by Michael Vorm of Swansea City. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain finally had a good game after a few sloppy performances as he almost put Arsenal ahead twice only to see the woodwork block his thunderbolt chances. His first attempt came after dribbling past a few defenders to hit the post from fifteen yards. Arsenal’s another upset came later into the first half as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain shot from thirty yards from an alluring pass from Santi Cazorla. Santi Cazorla in turn had his share of attempts and he was tactfully blocked twice in the first and second halves.
Wojciech Szczesny would not surely be happy as his counterpart in Lukasz Fabianski got the credit for keeping a clean-sheet by doing nothing in between the sticks. Despite the free-flowing football showcased by Swansea City, they never tested the 27-years-old goal-keeper at any juncture during the game. He was never made to do a reflex to prevent the ball from getting past the goal-line. The combination of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny yet again put up a decent show as Per Mertesacker dealt with the low crosses and Laurent Koscielny took care of aerial duels and last-man tackles. Carl Jenkinson proved his brilliance yet again despite a few nervy moments during the game.
Abou Diaby dictated the play quite well but he sometimes looked a little cocky since he decided to keep dribbling while he could have passed to an unmarked Olivier Giroud or Theo Walcott. Mikel Arteta had a bit of freedom to play his football thanks to the presence of another player of his kind in Abou Diaby. The Spaniard had his liberty to do a bit of attacking since Abou Diaby offered more presence than Aaron Ramsey who always has an eye for the goal. Theo Walcott had a nightmare performance as he often searched for the ball despite holding it in between his legs. It looked like Theo Walcott shouldn’t have been this stern over his contract issues a few weeks ago. Olivier Giroud was as usual less influential in the Arsenal’s play but he helped his team by running fifty yards down to contribute his part in getting the ball back from the Swans.
Arsenal’s substitutes in Aaron Ramsey and Gervinho did increasingly well to seal a remarkable two goals to nil victory against Swansea City at their own backyard. Aaron Ramsey wasn’t so selfish as he personified sportsmanship by assisting Gervinho who only had to stupefy Vorm to find the back of the net. Those few minutes showed glimpses of the Gervinho that Gooners used to witness in the early days of September.
On the negative note for the Arsenal supporters, the defense yet again proved its porosity as it was highly vulnerable to forward passes which was amazingly utilized by Jonathan de Guzman, Pablo Hernandez and Nathan Dyer. Arsenal failed to make anything substantial out of the sublime crosses from Nacho Monreal and Carl Jenkinson thanks to the stupendous defending from Ashley Williams who is in a form of his life.
Arsenal are just four points behind Tottenham at the moment with a game in hand and it seemingly looks like Arsenal are about to prove their dominance over the rest of the teams in North London particularly their fierce rivals in Tottenham since the Gunners have comparatively weaker opponents than that of Tottenham Hotspur in the the upcoming weeks.