Gunners sink the Swans
Written By: Robert Halter
Arsenal aimed for a third successive Premier League win against Swansea City. On five minutes from a pass by Sead Kolasinac, cutting in from the left, a low cross by Alexis Sanchez, was snatched upon by Lukasz Fabianski in the Swans goal. Three minutes later, after Sanchez was bundled over from Ki Sung-Yeung, a free kick by Sanchez was headed on from the Gunners captain, Per Mertesacker, into the reaches of Fabianski. Arsenal pressed again, when Granit Xhalka’s over the top delivery was just out of reach for Sanchez, on the edge of the area. In the eighteenth minute, from a miss placed header by Alfie Mawson, the ball was laid off from Nacho Monreal, but a low strike from Sanchez went left of the target. But against the run of play, the Swans took the lead when Mike Van Der Hoorn’s delivery deceived Laurent Koscielny and Tammy Abraham put the ball into the path of Sam Clucas, who managed to slide the ball past Petr Cech, into the centre of the goal, in the twenty second minute. Five minutes on, after Mesut Ozil’s final pass found Kolasinac, he pulled his shot to the far right by line. In the thirty third minute, Sung-Yeung’s through ball just went past Jordan Ayew, in the range of the target. In the following three minutes, a high delivery from Sanchez, flew over the top of Ozil. In the fortieth minute, Ayew combined with Clucas, whose curling strike went narrowly past the left side of the goal frame. But in the next sixty seconds, Arsenal reacted when Monreal linked up play with Kolasinac, whose back heel was connected to at full throttle by Sanchez, before Fabianski leaped into the air to make a one handed flying save. There was a scare for Arsenal, near the end of the first half, when from Monreal’s weak back pass, Mertesacker tumbled in the area, and Ayew tested Cech from close range, who made an important block with his legs. But in the fifty first minute, the Gunners were back on level terms as Alexandre Lacazette and Ozil, broke the resistance of Swansea and Kolasinac, smashed a dipping strike past Fabianski, into the bottom right corner. There was further distress for the Swans a minute later, when from a through ball by Clucas, the flag was raised for offside to rule out a goal by Abraham. In the fifty fourth minute when Aaron Ramsey was fouled by Van Der Hoorn, from the resulting free kick by Sanchez, the ball spun off the head of Koscielny and past the right goal line. However, the Gunners turned the game around on fifty eight minutes, when Xhaka wedged the ball over on the right to Kolasinac, whose low cross was slotted into the bottom left corner by Ramsey off the legs of Fabianksi. On the hour mark, Lacazette and Ozil combined again for Ramsey, but this time Ramsey fired his strike high and out of play. In the next two minutes, Xhaka and Ozil combined, before Hector Bellerin, flashed a strike across the face of goal. The momentum was with Arsenal as a low strike by Lacazette went straight into the palms of Fabianski, following an assist by Bellerin. On sixty six minutes, Ozil’s ball went across to Ramsey and then an out stretched Bellerin, turned the ball against the upright. In the seventy second minute, Ramsey supplied Sanchez, who ballooned the ball high and wide to the right. On seventy five minutes, after a clever flick, Kolasinac, drove the ball straight at Fabianski. In the Swans next play, Tom Carroll was appended by Ramsey, and from Carroll’s quickly taken free kick, the ball was knocked on from Clucas, before a strike by Abraham, was driven out wide to the left. Arsenal then took off Kolasinac for Rob Holding, before Olivier Giroud replaced Lacazette, while the Swans took off Ayew for Nathan Dyer and switched Van Der Hoorn with Luciano Narsingh and finally Oliver McBurnie for Carroll. On eighty six minutes, a cross over on the left by Monreal was turned past the near left post by Giroud. A minute from normal time, Bellerin and Ozil paved the way for Giroud, but he turned his strike past the far left post before Arsenal defeated Swansea City 2-1.