Arsenal v Swansea Preview

If we do overhaul last season's point total, finish higher in the table (we can be second if do pull in 10 points), score more and concede lesser than last season, and win the FA cup again - it would definitely be a season of progress.

I say this because I lost track of how many times AW used 'progress' in his pre-match.

Btw, typically good preview Sam!

Team news: Ramsey 50/50, Welbeck definitely short.

Jack, Theo and Gibbs are 'competitively fit'

We struggle against Swansea but with our form and quality we should beat them.

Wonder if Walcott or WIlshere will start instead of Ramsey.

Won't mind Welbeck starting instead of Giroud either.

Gabriel can do a game.

Welbeck is not in the squad RG

oh shit forgot.

Giroud it is

Arsenal last beat Swansea in September 2013 thanks to goals from Gnabry & Ramsey.

read this and I was like WHAAAAT?
This needs to change, come on Arsenal!

El Gunner wrote:

Arsenal last beat Swansea in September 2013 thanks to goals from Gnabry & Ramsey.

read this and I was like WHAAAAT?
This needs to change, come on Arsenal!

We said something similar before the Chelsea game.

But we also said something similar before Old Trafford.

Just putting it out there.

Great work Sam.

I think the pressure is on us to win tomorrow and I hope we get a comfortable home game before the United game. Second place is very important and so is FA Cup. I hate Monday games, not sure why we have to play 2 of them in row?

Swansea are decent team and we should not take them lightly and dont give them any chances.

Arsenal team to play Swansea: Ospina, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ramsey, Ozil, Alexis, Giroud

Unchanged lol

#consistence

Well they set up very solid two banks of four and we were quite sloppy with out passing in their final third, hopefully team could up tempo with some precision in 2nd half.

Bellerin doing much better against Montero though so that's a plus

Need Wilshere for Coquelin in the 2nd half. Unless they start attacking.

Basically they are cornered and any move they make will result in us winning lol

Also Montero has very much a punchable face

fml

lmao

Ah well. 3rd is still more or less locked

How many shots on target did we have. Gomis only one won areial duel and he scored from that!!!

23 shots in total. 9 on target

well done Swansea tbh
respectable team/manager overall
but getting undone by scrubs like Gomis/Montero Home and Away is one of low-lights of the season

bring on cup final already
as long as we secure automatic CL qualification these results doesn't matter

Completely agree with Sina

No idea why people are being so hyper on social media. Everyone all of a sudden forgot out form since Feb and we are back in crisis somehow.

As wenger said, this was the game we would have won 19/20 times. And he is right.

I am glad we are still discovering problems. It's better to have them now than after summer.

RealGunner wrote:Completely agree with Sina

No idea why people are being so hyper on social media. Everyone all of a sudden forgot out form since Feb and we are back in crisis somehow.

As wenger said, this was the game we would have won 19/20 times. And he is right.

I am glad we are still discovering problems. It's better to have them now than after summer.

It puts more pressure on finishing 3rd, and it shows a lack of finishing, or even lack of a plan b. Its natural to think that this will possibly start a run of negative, it did for Manure when they lost to Chelsea.

The problem wasn't so much a lack of plan b as it was a complete lack of quality finishing and correct decision making in the final third. We made enough openings to score and win the game.

The first half was awful, from an attacking point of view. Our play was completely lacking in tempo, and we didn't produce anything decent in the final third; inaccurate through balls, overhit crosses, poor touches, over-dribbling, etc. Fabianski didn't have a save to make.

Second half we played quicker and with more intensity and we created enough chances. Alexis and Walcott missed two guilt-edged chances. Monreal had a good chance as well. But we did that thing where we're become so fixated on trying to score that we forget to keep concentrating at the back.  

Swansea's goal came from some very lacklustre defending. Monreal was beaten easily by a one-two between Sigurdsson and Barrow. The cross isn't dealt with. Bellerin doesn't do enough to prevent Montero from getting another cross in. Gomis is allowed to challenge for the header against Monreal as our backline is all over the place. Their only meaningful attack of the half and it results in a goal.

It's probably not symptomatic of a bigger issue. It was just a very off night that we didn't see coming. Goes to show that the team can't switch off for a instance.

I think that Wenger should have rotated a bit for this game, to keep things fresh and interesting. Players like Gabriel, Gibbs, Wilshere and Walcott would have been eager to perform well and get a place in the team for the cup final. Maybe that would have seen us play with a bit more urgency in the first half.

It's an off night but I can assure u Tim Sherwood the hero already wrote down every single thing Swansea players did and didnt tonite. We can not approach the final with this attitude an lackluster preparation.

@jay: players have plenty of rest so dont think rotation is an issue, maybe they already have one eye on the final.

RealGunner wrote:
I am glad we are still discovering problems. It's better to have them now than after summer.

lol discovering problems?

Come on let's be honest this is the same old stuff we've faced before. A team comes to the Emirates, sits deep with a organised defense, then hits us on the counter attack.

Simple really. It all comes down to our attack, intend and lethalness on the day whether we can break down that defense and win the game. Last night we were too slow most of the time, seemed incoherent and not like we really wanted the win. Not crisis mode or anything that extreme, just the loss was on the players.