MX23RW : Tuesday, November 5 18:33:15| >> :60:2006:2006:
[monks data]
Swansea logo
Premier League
Nov 9, 2014 at 4pm UK
 
Arsenal logo

2-1

Sigurdsson (75'), Gomis (78')
FT(HT: 0-0)
Sanchez (63')

Live Commentary: Swansea City 2-1 Arsenal - as it happened

Find out how Swansea City came from behind to stun Arsenal in the Premier League.
2

The last game of the Premier League weekend before a two-week international break saw Arsenal travel to a rainy South Wales to face Swansea City.

After throwing away a 3-0 advantage in the Champions League on Tuesday, the Gunners once again failed to convert a lead as Swansea scored twice in quick succession to maintain their strong home record this season.

Read how it all unfolded at the Liberty Stadium in our minute-by-minute updates below.


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Afternoon folks! The last game of the Premier League before a two-week break sees Swansea City take on Arsenal at the Liberty Stadium. The team news is just reaching us here, so let's get straight to it.

SWANSEA XI: Fabianski; Rangel, Bartley, Williams, Taylor; Ki, Carroll, Sigurdsson; Emnes, Montero, Bony
Subs: Tremmel, Tiendalli, Amat, Britton, Fulton, Barrow, Gomis

That's three changes for Swansea from last week's goalless draw at home to Everton. Kyle Bartley, Tom Carroll and Marvin Emnes replace Federico Fernandez, Jonjo Shelvey and Wayne Routledge.

Lukasz Fabianski is featured in this graphic on the Swansea Twitter page and it certainly is a big day for him as he comes up against his former club.


ARSENAL XI: Szczesny; Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Flamini, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Ramsey, Alexis, Cazorla; Welbeck
Subs: Martinez, Bellerin, Rosicky, Wilshere, Podolski, Walcott, Sanogo

No surprises in the Arsenal team, with Aaron Ramsey coming in for the injured Mikel Arteta in midfield. Jack Wilshere is fit again, but, like Theo Walcott, has to settle for a place on the bench.

A special well done to Arsenal's big German centre-back Per Mertesacker, who makes his 100th Premier League appearance for the Gunners today.


Before we take a closer look at today's game in South Wales, let's just update you on what's happening elsewhere in the Premier League today.

Three games kicked off at 1.30pm and they're all coming to a close. At the Stadium of Light, Sunderland and Everton are locked at 1-1. In North London, Spurs trail Stoke 2-1, while at The Hawthorns, Newcastle lead 2-0 against West Brom.

Click here to see how the Premier League table currently looks. If Newcastle can see out the win at West Brom they will climb above Swansea, knocking Garry Monk's side down to eighth in the table.

REFEREE WATCH! The man with the whistle today is Phil Dowd.

Referee Phil Dowd shows the red card to Younes Kaboul (L) of Spurs as Michael Dawson (C) of Spurs protests during the Barclays Premier League match against West Ham United on May 3, 2014© Getty Images

There's plenty of pressure on Carroll to deliver a solid display in the middle of the Swansea midfield today. He comes up against his parent club Tottenham's arch rivals in Arsenal and will want to impress with this chance as Shelvey can't play because of suspension.

The youngster will be up against fit-again Aaron Ramsey in the Arsenal midfield. The young star has only just recently returned from injury and will be particularly keen to impress in his home country.

ALL OVER in the three earlier games. Find match reports in our tweet below.


Arsenal are chasing a third straight league win today after clean-sheet victories over Sunderland and Burnley in their last two league outings. Despite that improved league form, confidence might be a little shaky today after their collapse against Anderlecht in the Champions League on Tuesday. The Gunners were 3-0 up against the Belgian side before an awful second half that saw their hopes of finishing top of the group virtually come to an end.

One positive from that game was yet another goal for hotshot Alexis Sanchez. The Chilean has scored 11 goals in his last 13 games for the Gunners, including five in the last three league games.

Arsenal's Chilean striker Alexis Sanchez scores his team's second goal during the UEFA Champions League Group D football match between Arsenal and Anderlecht at the Emirates Stadium in north London on November 4, 2014© Getty Images

Alexis, as he prefers to be called, has been playing in an advanced role alongside Danny Welbeck and will no doubt be confident of scoring again today. He'll be up against Bartley quite a lot - the centre-back is making just his second Premier League start in 21 months. Will he get undone by the likes of Alexis and Welbeck?

H2H: Arsenal are unbeaten in their last five games against Swansea, winning three and drawing two. Their last meeting was at the Emirates in March, when a Mathieu Flamini own goal in the 90th minute gifted Swansea a point. Will that be playing in the Frenchman's mind today?

It's hard to gauge exactly how Swansea must be feeling at the moment. They've enjoyed their best start to a Premier League season and have also been particularly good at home, earning 10 points out of a possible 15 at the Liberty. Only Chelsea and Southampton - first and second in the table - have done better in front of their own fans. However, they've won just one of their last seven games in the league.

One think that Monk will be desperate to address is the poor possession in last week's draw with Everton. The Swans, at home remember, had only a third of the ball which was their lowest possession count since promotion to the top flight in 2011. Arsenal are hardly the team you want to come up against as they are also excellent with the ball.

Although they didn't keep the ball how Monk would have wanted against the Toffees, it was yet another clean sheet - their fifth of the season. Only Southampton have had as many shutouts.

PREDICTION TIME! Just 10 minutes separates us from kickoff in South Wales. Check out the video below to get the thoughts of my colleagues Matt and Barney on the SM Sofa. You'll see that one goes for a Swansea win and one goes for a draw. I'm going to go the other way and back Arsenal to win 2-1.


One thing that should be expected today is late goals. There have been nine goals after the 80-minute mark in the last six meetings between these two sides.

The two sides have just emerged from the tunnel. On Remembrance Sunday, we will be having a minute's silence before we get underway.

A near-perfect minute's silence that was interrupted very briefly by a shout from the crowd.

KICKOFF! Right on time, we're underway at the Liberty Stadium.

Arsenal start on the front foot, but we now have a stoppage inside the first two minutes and it's the Swansea skipper Williams who is down.

This is really worrying for the Swans. They already have Bartley in for a rare start and it now looks like Williams might have to come off.

Scratch that. The Welsh international has picked himself up and returned to the field of play. He still looks a little unsure after jarring his ankle, but will no doubt do everything he can to play on.

It's all very patient from the Gunners at the moment. They've had the ball for basically the whole game but are yet to work it up to the final third. Good pressing and positioning from Swansea.

The Gunners have had 78% possession in the first few minutes. They've done absolutely nothing with it so far, though.

Oxlade-Chamberlain is caught in possession and then brings down Montero just on the left edge of the box. Chance for Sigurdsson to swing it in...

It's a vicious delivery from the Iceland international that beats everyone in the middle before Chambers stoops to head it up and away for a corner. He could have left it, but he couldn't take any chances there and made the right call.

Ramsey's burst into the box is almost picked out by Oxlade-Chamberlain as the Englishman's pass just rolls too far ahead of the Welshman's run.

Better from Arsenal as Cazorla, who could have shot, lays it out to the overlapping Gibbs. His low cross is towards Sanchez, but the Chilean is crowded out and can't get off a decent shot.

Almost calamitous from Chambers as he jumps up to intercept a ball over the top for Montero but can't get enough on it to head it back to Szczesny. Montero tries to nip in and steal the ball, but the two Arsenal players just about clear the danger between them.

Swansea's fans give Leon Britton a warm round of applause as he warms up off the pitch. The midfielder is in the squad for the first time this season after a lengthy injury.

The light rain in South Wales has made the pitch extremely slippery and that should suit these two sides' neat passing football. Eighteen minutes into the game, we're still without a chance, though.

As you can see from these two pass maps, there has been no action in either penalty box so far.

PENALTY SHOUT & SAVE! We have some penalty-box action at last and Swansea, in my view, should be taking a penalty as I type! Emnes's cross into the box landed on the chest of Bony and just as he controlled it, Chambers barged into the back of him. Dowd is looking right at it but decides that there wasn't enough it it to point to the spot. An almost identical challenge was made on Bony in the middle of the park a little earlier and he blew up that time. A few seconds later, Montero's attempted cross turns into a fierce shot that Szczesny has to palm away at the near post.

Taylor beats Chambers for pace down the left before drilling in a low cross that makes its way to the back post and his fellow full-back Rangel. The Spaniard hits it first time, but can't strike it through the wall of yellow shirts in front of him.

Montero wastefully screws a shot a long way wide when he could have controlled the ball and maybe sent over a cross for several of his teammates in the box. It's been a really encouraging 10 minutes or so by the hosts.

Oxlade-Chamberlain's pass is lucky to reach Ramsey in the middle and his left-foot fizzer is deflected out for first Gunners corner.

Cazorla's delivery is right on the money, but Fabianski is out to challenge for it and gets fouled by Chambers.

Sublime one-touch football from Arsenal as Gibbs, Sanchez and Welbeck interchange quick passes on the left corner of the area. It comes to Ramsey on the edge of the box and you're expecting him to shoot. Instead, he tries a fancy flick to Cazorla that slows down the momemtum a little bit. In the end, Oxlade-Chamberlain seems to be brought down on the right-hand side, but the officials don't agree and Arsenal have to settle for a corner.

After barely seeing the ball in the opening five minutes, Swansea have now had more of the ball today than Arsenal. An encouraging response, but the lack of clear-cut chances for both sides is a worry for the neutral (like me).

CHANCE! There we go! Swansea create a decent opening as Emnes charges down the right and is rolled in by Bony. It's the sort of chance that you feel Premier League forwards should be able to take, but Emnes can only drill it straight at Szczesny.

BOOKING! Dowd has his yellow card out for the first time today, cautioning Swansea left-back Taylor for a late slide on Oxlade-Chamberlain.

He might not have had a chance of his own yet, but Bony really is playing well with his back to goal. The Ivorian is trying to make sure that he challenges in the air with Monreal and not Mertesacker, who provides a much tougher challenge. Clever from the striker.

BOOKING! Oxlade-Chamberlain gets another Swansea player booked as this time Ki
scythes him down on the wing.

SAVE! Gorgeous again from Arsenal as Alexis feeds the ball into Welbeck, who exchanges a swift one-two with Oxlade-Chamberlain to open up the visitors' first real chance. He's only about 10 yards out, but can't beat Fabianski at the near post.

CLOSE! Whooooaaaa, Ramsey almost opens the scoring with a dipping first-time volley. Fabulous technique and he's unlucky to see the ball whizz just past the post.

BOOKING! Ramsey is harshly booked by Dowd for a bit of a nothing foul. If anything, Flamini actually made more contact with Taylor. We're halfway through three minutes of added time, by the way.

CHANCE! Arsenal win a corner right at the end of the first half that Mertesacker meets powerfully, but can only direct it wide of the post.

HALF-TIME: SWANSEA 0-0 ARSENAL

All square at the break then. It was a really slow start to the game, but the half improved as it went on. Swansea dominated the middle period, but then Arsenal finished the half on top and might feel that they should be ahead.

If you want a quick rundown of the opening half's events, read our half-time report here.

Although Arsenal came closest towards the end of the half, Swansea will certainly feel that they should have had a penalty. Chambers's barge into the back of Bony would have been a free kick every time in the middle of the park, so why shouldn't it be a penalty?



No changes from either manager at the break. We'll be getting back underway shortly.

KICKOFF! The second 45 is underway, will we see any goals?

CHANCE! Arsenal waste no time this half in getting forward as Oxlade-Chamberlain collects a pass from Alexis but can only hit a left-footer straight at Fabianski.

BOOKING! Williams takes a wild swipe at Cazorla's shin and comes off just as bad as the Spaniard, if not worse. His injury doesn't help him escape a booking, though.

A hoofed clearance from an Arsenal corner makes its way to Montero on the far side. He goes on the outside of Monreal before cutting back and sending over a cross that is unfortunately right between Bony and Emnes in the middle. So many teams these days don't leave anyone up at corners, but that is exactly why you should.

Montero is having a good game down the left for the home side and really has enjoyed playing against Chambers, who looks a little short of energy. Here are the pair in action:

Arsenal player Calum Chambers is challenged by Swansea player Jefferson Montero during the Barclays Premier League match on November 9, 2014© Getty Images

BOOKING! Mertesacker picks up his second booking of the season for a foul on Bony, who is proving to be a right nuisance for the Arsenal backline.

Oxlade-Chamberlain has probably been Arsenal's brightest spark and he almost gets a shot off after beating two players, but is eventually crowded out.

Welbeck is played in down the right channel by Oxlade-Chamberlain and cuts inside his man excellently before his cutback that was intended for Oxlade-Chamberlain is read and intercepted by Sigurdsson.

SHOT! The rain is falling even heavier now and Cazorla tries to use the slippy surface with a low shot that Fabianski spills, but is able to collect at the second attempt.

BOOKING! Chambers picks up yet another booking for Arsenal after a foul on Montero.

GOAL! SWANSEA 0-1 ARSENAL (ALEXIS)

Arsenal break the deadlock, and you have to say that it has been coming a little in this second half. Oxlade-Chamberlain does really well to burst past a couple of challenges and that opens up tons of room as Welbeck is released down the right. He fakes a cross before getting his head up and finding the in-form Alexis, who simply sidefoots home a simple chance from eight yards out. That's 12 in his last 14 games for the Chilean.

CHANCE! Swansea almost hit back straight away as Montero again causes problems down the left before cutting back for Bony, who drags a left-footed shot well wide of the target.

BOOKING! Carroll picked up a booking a couple of minutes ago for a challenge that he made in the build-up to Arsenal's goal.

SWANSEA SUB: It's a Swansea debut for Swedish teenager Modou Barrow, who replaces Emnes for the home side.

With Arsenal now winning, they are set to climb back into the top four, one point behind Man City in third and four shy of surprising Southampton in second. Chelsea would be nine clear of the Gunners.

Montero continues to impress for Swansea, producing an inviting cross that Gibbs has to head out for a corner.

BOOKING! Another Arsenal player into the book as Gibbs brings down Barrow, who had shown great pace to burst through the centre from midfield.

GOAL! SWANSEA 1-1 ARSENAL (SIGURDSSON)

Gorgeous from Gylfi! The midfielder, who has had a great season so far, scores his second goal of the campaign with a delightful free kick that curls up and over the wall and into the top corner. Marvellous.

SWANSEA SUB: Bony has worked hard, but had no reward so is replaced by Bafetimbi Gomis.

GOAL! SWANSEA 2-1 ARSENAL (GOMIS)

Goodness me, what an impact! The forward had barely been on for a couple of minutes as he nods home from Montero's cross. Yet again, Chambers was beaten far too easily down the wing.

ARSENAL SUBS: Wenger wastes no time in making a pair of substitutions, bringing on Walcott and Wilshere for Ramsey and Flamini.

Can Walcott, who will fancy his chances against tired Swansea legs, have a real impact, or is he still not quite at 100%? He made his return from injury at Burnley last week and might still be feeling his way back into Premier League football.

Unsurprisingly, Arsenal have been camped in Swansea's half since going behind. Can the home side hold out?

BOOKING! Alexis is cautioned after venting his frustrating at the officials following a very soft fall by Ki. It looked like a dive as he ran out of passing options and you can see why Alexis is furious.

SWANSEA SUB: Britton comes on for his first appearance of the season by replacing Carroll.

Oxlade-Chamberlain looks for Walcott with an arrow-like pass inside Taylor, but Fabianski reads the danger and charges out to claim the ball.

CHANCE! I said that Walcott might be a little rusty and that was certainly the case here as he fails to control a lovely ball over the top with just Fabianski to beat.

ARSENAL SUB: Final throw of the dice by Wenger as he sends on Yaya Sanogo for Chambers, who has had maybe his worst game in an Arsenal shirt.

FOUR minutes of added time to go at the Liberty.

Big appeals for a penalty by Arsenal as Sanogo's header down into the turf hits Taylor, but he was looking the other way and his arms were tucked in.

FULL-TIME: SWANSEA 2-1 ARSENAL

Arsenal had a chance with the last kick of the game when Oxlade-Chamberlain got to the byline and crossed for Wilshere, but his shot was well-blocked in the box. Dowd blew up straight away and it's another home win for Swansea.

The Swans now have 13 points from a possible 18 at home this season and leapfrog Arsenal in the table, going level on points with West Ham United in fourth.

Click here to see how the table looks after gameweek 11. We'll now have a two-week international break (BOOOOOO!).

It was a bit of a nothing first half, but the game came to life in the second 45. Arsenal's dominance at the start of the period resulted in yet another goal for Alexis, but it wasn't enough for victory as Sigurdsson and Gomis struck within three minutes to win it for Swansea.

What's particularly disappointing for Arsenal is that they've thrown away a lead for the second time in a few days. After failing to convert a 3-0 advantage against Anderlecht on Tuesday, they've again been unable to hold out this evening.

Anyway, that's all we've got time for here this afternoon. Thanks for joining SM. Make sure you keep your eyes peeled for analysis and player ratings in the next hour or so, as well as plenty of reaction from the Liberty Stadium. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

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Swansea manager Garry Monk prior to kick-off against Chelsea in the Premier League match on April 13, 2014
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