EPL: Swansea City vs. Arsenal

I heard a lot of great stuff about this match over the last couple days, so as I decided what matches I really wanted to focus on watching and blogging this week, this was the at the top of the list. Both of these sides are known for playing beautiful passing and flowing football, and they really didn't disappoint. The match could have used a few less defensive blunders though.

Kemy Agustien had the first shot for the Swans within the first minute, but it went wide and the Gunners went on the attack. Swansea gave them everything they had though, constantly pressuring and harassing the Arsenal players the minute they touched the ball. The first shot may have gone to Swansea, but the first goal went to Arsenal. In the 4th minute Andrei Arshavin put a nice through ball toward the area for Robin Van Persie. Both Michel Vorm and his defenders closed RVP down, but somehow he snuck the ball in near post to make it 0-1 to the Gunners.

After that most of the credit goes to Swansea. They weren't phased at all by the Arsenal goal and stuck to their possession game plan. At one point they had 65% of it to just 35% to Arsenal. This is ARSENAL we're talking about. They usually do that to other teams. The pressure paid off for Swansea in the 16th minute as Arsenal conceded a PK. Depending on what commentary you read or listen to on this, opinions differ. Aaron Ramsey clearly made contact with Nathan Dyer in the box. Could Dyer have stayed on his feet? Perhaps. However, was it a foul? I say yes. Dyer probably went down easily, but Ramsey gave the referee the chance to make the call. Both of the announcers calling the game thought it was the right call too. At any rate, Scott Sinclair nailed the spot kick to equalize at 1-1.

Both sides had decent chances again before halftime. In the 29st minute, RVP nearly put Arsenal back on top, only to be saved by Vorm. Swansea defender Steven Caulker got a header on a goal from a set piece situation in the 32nd, only to see Arsenal's scrambling defense clear it off the line. The half ended at 1-1.

There were even more chances and in the 2nd half as the match opened up even more. Theo Walcott had a nice chance for the Gunners right off in minute 46, but put his shot high. Just two minutes later Arshavin got a really good look at goal but somehow managed to put his shot into the cheap seats. It really wasn't a good day for him.

In the 53rd minute Swansea forward Joe Allen put a shot tantalizingly close to goal, but had it just go wide. However he redeemed himself just four minutes later as he worked a ball to Dyer, who smacked the ball in far post to make it 2-1 to the Swans on 57 minutes.

Now it was Arsenal's turn to react to falling behind. They changed up their squad, including inserting Thierry Henry. It wasn't Henry however, but the man wearing his old number 14, Theo Walcott, that got the equalizer. He took a through ball from Djorou on 69 minutes and slotted it past Vorm to make it 2-2.

The Arsenal elation didn't last long though. Forty-five seconds to be exact. Gylfi Sigurdsson caught the Gunners asleep at the back and threaded a ball through to Danny Graham who whizzed the ball past Szczesny before the Arsenal keeper even saw it coming. The goal gave Swans the 3-2 lead, which they held until full time.

The three points put Swansea into the top half and closer to safety. Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger was left to complain. He didn't complain much about how his team got outplayed for large stretches of the match, he complained about the ref and the PK. Yeah, we know Mr. Wenger, you'd win every trophy if only the refs weren't out to get you. The loss leaves the Gunners 4 points behind Chelsea for the final Champions League spot.


A frustrated Henry had little to no effect. (Micheal Steele--Getty Images/FoxSoccer.com)