Kevin Whitcher
70 minutes before Arsenal started playing at Bournemouth. 45 against Preston. And 35 minutes at Swansea. Things are slowly improving in this respect, and once Arsene Wenger’s side did hit their stride fully after the interval, there was only going to be one winner.
The first half was tortuous for a long period though. Swansea did a good job of nullifying Arsenal and it was difficult to see where a goal might come from. Alexis had one decent effort, but aside from that there was little creativity. Giroud’s contribution was marginal, but lo and behold, up he pops, right man in the right place to smash home Ozil’s header when the Gunners finally put a cohesive attacking move together.
At the other end, the referee booked Swansea’s Korean striker Sung-Yong for diving when it was feared he had blown for a penalty kick. It was a key moment in the game and replays showed the forward was already going down before there was any contact with the defender. I’ve certainly seen spot kicks awarded before in these situations, so well played to referee Mike Jones for calling the simulation correctly.
It meant the home side did not build up a head of steam as Everton did in the game at Goodison Park before Christmas. Olivier Giroud indicated he wanted to come off, but remained until his team had doubled their lead in the second half. Alex Iwobi twice shot in a period of Arsenal dominance with the resulting blocks / deflections ending up in the back of the net. Swansea’s luck just wasn’t in, although it was good attacking pressure that forced the misfortune.
Sanchez scored the fourth when an interception fell to him and the home side’s misery was complete. One thing that needs pointing out. For all of Arsenal’s goals, there were plenty of attacking players in the box. Twice it meant they were able to take advantage of loose balls. For the own goals, it was because mistakes were forced by numbers. This does seem to be a solution to the kind of defending that proved so frustrating in the first 35 minutes.
Of course, it requires concentration and accuracy in possession. In defence, there were a couple of lapses that the team got away with, a poor header by Koscielny in the first half and a terrible ball across the back line from Gabriel that went to a Swansea forward. Paul Clement’s team were not helped by some poor finishing. They certainly had opportunities before the game was out of sight.
Ozil and Alexis were withdrawn for the final 12 minutes – a surprise as normally Iwobi is one of the first to be hooked. Alexis, probably smelling more goals against a disheartened defence, went into what appeared to be a sulk. The bottom line is that the game was won. Why risk injury to either of the star turns? The Chilean needs to be more professional. He wears his heart on his sleeve on the pitch, fair enough. But protesting about being removed from the fray in this way doesn’t really help anybody. Was he never subbed at Barcelona?
Anyway, a far more encouraging display from Arsenal. Sure, the opposition were there for the taking, but in games like this, the Gunners should be asserting their dominance as they did. More of this against Burnley and Watford will at least give them something to play for when they visit Stamford Bridge. Arsenal sit third at the end of Saturday, but it’s certainly very tight amongst the top six. And other teams seem to be winning the games like this with ease as well. What happened to West Brom at Tottenham? Things are certainly getting interesting, and for now, the Gunners are in the mix.
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