Gunners down Swans

Swansea 1-2 Arsenal

 

 

 

Arsenal secured a fifth straight league win on Saturday, with a hard fought victory away to a determined Swansea City.

The two sides played out a drab first half as both teams sized each other up and were very cautious in their attacking intentions. The main reason for this was that both sides are most dangerous when hitting their opposition on the counter attack. Therefore with this threat in mind, neither team wanted to commit men forward in case they were then caught up field.

As a result, the first period of game saw no shot on target recorded by either side. The closest Arsenal had come to opening the deadlock was a long range effort from Ramsey, which flew just wide of the goal. Then with seconds of the first half remaining, Serge Gnabry, making his third successive first team start, decided to take the game by the scruff of the neck. The young German had come into the starting line up to replace the injured Theo Walcott on the right flank and had tracked back extremely well to help Sagna throughout the first period. However with the clock ticking down on the first half, Gnabry drifted into the middle of the park. Having picked the ball up in this position he drove at the Swansea defence, committing defenders before releasing the ball into the path of Giroud. Unfortunately, although the big Frenchman controlled the pass beautifully, he could not direct his shot on goal, dragging his effort harmlessly wide. As the half time whistle went, Wenger could at least take solace in the fact his side had at last managed to open up the Swansea defence, in what was turning out to be an incredibly tight game.

At the interval, Wenger advised his players to sit slightly deeper and invite Swansea onto them, in an attempt to break down the attack and hit the hosts with a quick counter attack. The ploy worked a treat, with both Arsenal goals coming as a result of excellent counter attacking moves. The Gunners opened the deadlock in the 58^th minute of the game, as they surged forward with great purpose before a wonderful reverse pass from Ramsey, allowed Gnabry to take one touch before firing low and hard across goal, seeing his shot nestle into the bottom corner for his first league goal in an Arsenal shirt.

A few minutes later and Ramsey was at it again. This time the Welshman drove forward, before waiting for the opportune moment to lay a perfectly weighted ball into the path of Ozil. The Gunners record signing was clear through on goal, but instead of aiming his shot towards the far post, elected for the near post and Michel Vorm in Swansea goal was able to pull off a comfortable save.

Arsenal did not have to wait too long to double their lead however, as they embarked on yet another exquisite counter attack in the 62^nd minute. The move originated from Szczesny who just managed to save the ball from going over the line and therefore prevented a Swansea corner. The Polish goalkeeper then immediately threw the ball out, starting an Arsenal attack, with several Swansea players caught up field. The ball was passed quickly forward to the halfway line and then inside to Ramsey who flicked a pass into the path of Wilshere. The young Englishman showed great commitment, desire and hunger to slide in and win a challenge under great pressure to keep the Arsenal attack alive, before sliding the ball through to Giroud in the penalty area. Although the Frenchman could have taken on the shot he decided to lay the ball back to Ramsey, who cut inside before unleashing an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the goal for his eight goal of the season.

Arsenal should have been in complete control of proceedings now, but Michael Laudrup’s decision to bring Wilfred Bony on from the bench did cause the Gunners problems. The Ivorian’s supreme strength enabled him to hold off the Arsenal defenders when in possession and therefore allowed him to bring his teammates into the game.

With only nine minutes left Ben Davies found himself in space on the left flank, before cutting inside and exchanging passes with Bony. The Ivorian’s clip over the top of the Arsenal defence was almost cut out by Mertesacker’s outstretched leg, but unfortunately, the German’s attempted clearance came back off Davies and past Szczesny to reduce the deficit.

Arsenal were therefore in for a nervous last few minutes. The Gunners have a reputation for surrendering leads, but on this occasion they held firm, defended as a team and restricted Swansea to absolutely no more chances on goal, to secure all three points.

This was an important win for Arsene Wenger’s side. Not only did the team show their hunger to take advantage of the teams around them slipping up, they also displayed a new found maturity which has not been present in recent seasons. The performance showed they have the ability to defend well against one of the best passing sides in the league, as well as being able to soak up pressure and hit the opposition on the break.  With Ramsey enjoying the form of his life and the likes of Gnabry stepping up to the senior side with relative ease, these are certainly exciting times at the Emirates.