Gunners Looking To Bounce Back Immediately

Swansea vs Arsenal Match Preview –Premier League – 09.11.14

Arsenal head to the Liberty Stadium this weekend on the back of a disappointing result at home to Champions League minnows, Anderlecht. The Swans are tough opposition. They are well marshalled, creative, tenacious and physical.

The big worry for Arsenal is how Monreal will cope with Bony if he is played at centre-half again. He showed on Tuesday night that he struggles with big, physical strikers however we cannot look past how poor the referee was that night. It could be argued that had he done his job properly they would not have had the impetus to attack and thus Monreal would not have given away such a cheap penalty.

Overall Monreal has done well out of position but regardless of the referees performance you have to note that Monreal was easily bullied and that’s a concern. Koscielny cannot come back quickly enough.

In the league, Arsenal’s form is improving and after a shocking defensive performance like that it is likely the Gunners will give little away to the Swansea attack so it’s probably a good match to pick up a free bet as Arsenal should do the business comfortably away at Swansea.

Sanchez is on fire at the moment and he will want to continue his fine form. Aaron Ramsey will most likely play and as a Cardiff lad you would expect him to give his absolute all against Swansea and this could well be the game that sees him get back to form.

Arsenal from; Szczesny, Martinez, Bellerin, Chambers, Monreal, Mertesacker, Wilshere, Flamini, Chamberlain, Ramsey, Rosicky, Alexis, Cazorla, Walcott, Welbeck, Campbell, Podolski

Predicted Line-up

Szczesny, Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs, Ramsey, Flamini, Cazorla, Chamberlain, Welbeck, Sanchez

I expect to see substitute appearances from Wilshere, Walcott and Rosicky

Match Quote

“We will bounce back quickly, we are really good at that. We have shown that a couple of times. That was a good warning [on Wednesday] that everyone should raise their game and give maybe 10 per cent more when it’s really needed” – Per Mertesacker

Last 3 Meetings

• Arsenal 2- 2 Swansea 25.03.2014
• Swansea 1-2 Arsenal 28.09.13
• Swansea 0-2 Arsenal 16.03.13

Form Guide

Arsenal Last 5
DWWWD

Swansea Last 5
DLWLD

Opposition watch

A few early wins pushed Swansea up the table but since beating WBA 3-0 on the 30th of August they have won only once in the league – a 2-0 win over Leicester. Despite quite a few draws they still sit in 6th place in the league and haven’t been bad value for money this season. The addition of Fabianksi was a good one and defensively they average one goal shipped per game although 7 of these were away and in 5 league games they’ve only conceded 3 goals.

Factfile

• Swansea haven’t beaten Arsenal in their last 5 attempts
• Arsenal have won more points from losing positions than any other team this season
• This will be the 11th time Swansea & Arsenal have met in the league & 19th time in total

Prediction

Swansea will press Arsenal hard and try to force them into making mistakes. With Arteta injured Flamini will probably fill in and may struggle to keep his temper. If we can dominate the ball and keep things going our way until half-time then we should win this one reasonably comfortably. 2-0 to Arsenal, Sanchez and Ramsey goals.

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