ARSENAL SQUEEZE PAST SWANSEA

ARSENAL 3 SWANSEA 2

BY AYODELE ODUMADE AT THE EMIRATES STADIUM, LONDON

In what was a crazy afternoon of high entertainment at the Emirates, Arsenal narrowly beat Swansea when at times it seemed like they were going to give the Welsh side a good hiding.  All the schizophrenic characteristics of Arsenal were on show today as one minute they were scintillating and then the next they were vulnerable due to their defending.  As for Swansea they gave a good account of themselves and simply did not come here to park the bus.

With 12 minutes gone Shkodran Mustafi headed a corner take by Mesut Ozil just over the bar.  Arsenal had most of the play but shortly after the quarter of an hour mark Swansea played some neat football orchestrated by Modou Borrow and the ball found its way to Leroy Fer but he failed to hit the target as he blazed his shot well over.

Arsenal broke the deadlock in the 26 minute.  A cross was put into the box, which was kept alive by Santi Carzola with a header goal wards.  Jordi Amat looked like he had the situation covered when all he had to do was clear the ball. Unfortunately for him Theo Walcott nipped in and slotted the ball past the helpless Lukasz Fabianski to give the Gunners the lead.  Swansea were the architects of their own downfall on this occasion.

Arsenal were in the mood now.  Swansea tried to attack and nearly conceded a second as Sanchez went through the gears and led a counter attack.  Walcott’s shot was just wide.  Minutes later from a corner kick the ball ricocheted off Granit Xhaka to Walcott who turned on a sixpence piece from close range before slotting the ball home to double Arsenal’s lead. 

Football sometimes does not go to script and just when it looked like Arsenal were going to rump away with this Swansea pulled a goal back when Xhaka lost the ball in Arsenal’s half.  The ball fell to Gyulfi Sigurdsson who pulled the trigger on the edge of the Arsenal box, which, flashed past Petr Cech before he could react to half Arsenal’s lead.

Just after the midway point Alex Iwobi showed why Arsene Wenger has now made him a mainstay of the Arsenal team has he went past four Swansea players before crossing the ball to the back post but Walcott’s shot was saved by Fabianski.  Arsenal had regained their momentum, which they seemed to have lost at the start of the second half.   In the 68th Alexis Sanchez chipped the ball to the back post where birthday boy Ozil met it with a sumptuous volley from close range to restore Arsenal’s two-goal lead.

Swansea though just would not take things lying down as they continued to be positive and kept coming forward.  Modou Barrow who had been a menace all afternoon on the right wing for Swansea got down the ball line and played a reverse pass to Gonzalez Baston, which he calmly slotted past Cech to bring Swansea once again back within a goal of the Gunners.

Minutes later Arsenal were reduced to ten men as Xhaka was mysteriously sent off after he appeared to trip Barrow.  The Arsenal crowd were incensed by that decision and what looked like a walk in the park at two nil up had now become a close call.

Swansea’s game plan was now simply to get the ball to Barrow and let him run at the Arsenal defence. This almost yielded dividends with 10 minutes to go when he want on another run and cut the ball back to Sigurdsson who should have hit the target from close range but somehow blazed his shot over the bar.  Shortly after Angel Rangel replaced Barrow who was injured and the N5 faithful breathed again.

Arsenal nearly made the game safe from a fast break as Alex Oxlade Chamberlain played Walcott in but his shot hit the inside of the upright and trickled away to safety to keep Swansea in the game.

There were five added minutes and twice Arsenal could have put this game beyond Swansea’s reach. First Hector Bellerin had a shot saved by Fabianski from close range then just before the whistle Oxlade-Chamberlain broke down the right played Walcott in but somehow his shot cannoned off the upright when he should have scored.

The Arsenal faithful breathed a sigh of relief at the final whistle with three more points in the bag. 

Wenger said: “ What should have been a comfortable win became uncomfortable at the end. We lost our focus at 2-0 up.  We could have made it 4-2 but Swansea too could have equalized. “ 

Bob Bradley said: “That was an exciting game but it didn’t finish the way we wanted. The difference between the top teams, middle teams and bottom teams is tempo. I am pleased that what I saw today was positive though.”