Arsenal must hit the Swans early, and hard.

Match Preview: Arsenal vs Swansea - Premier League - 15.10.2016

At last! The latest International break is finally wrapped up and we can get back to what we love the most, The Arsenal! This weekend sees the boys from Wales making the trip to North London, as The Emirates welcomes Swansea City.

Let’s start with some rare but great news, at the time of writing this piece everyone has returned from representing their countries uninjured and in good shape! I know, crackers right? Barring a late test on Mesut Özil’s fitness and a nod and a wink of assurance from Alexis having been half way around the world for a week the squad sounds in good health, with the added boost of Francis Coquelin and Mathieu Debuchy also being passed fit and available for selection.

So what shape do we find ourselves in coming in to this game, well, in short, very fine shape to be honest, unbeaten in 6 Premier League games, including 3 clean sheets and 13 goals scored in the process, let’s hope that 13 doesn’t prove unlucky as we take on a side who have a pretty decent record when travelling to Ashburton Grove.

Facing a team with a new Manager in place is always a tough one to predict, I think back to a game I attended away at Sheffield Wednesday in 1997, losing 2-0 to a new Manager bounce from, at the time, Ron Atkinson! I’ll touch on Swansea’s new boss in a moment but firstly we have to look at our side and find a way to get this game won.

Let’s make no bones about it, The Swans will set up to not get beaten in this game, I fully expect a 4-5-1 system, with a heavily packed, physical midfield area and a tight two lines of players when we possession, so with that in mind we have to find that ‘Plan B’ to unlock this strategy from the visitors. Starting fast and scoring early in my opinion has to be the focus, we’ve all read this script before, team turns up, sits deeper and picks us off late on the counter, scoring early and crushing that set up takes that threat away and forces the opposition to at least unshackle themselves from their own half for periods.

The key men may sound obvious to some, but for me Mesut Özil and Alexis Sanchez will have to play pivotal roles in the game, Mesut’s ability to provide that killer pass or engineer that pocket of space for a player to get in behind could well make the difference in a tight game, equally Alexis newly found freedom to run in behind as the spearhead of the front line could open up Swansea repeatedly if given the chance. A word for Theo Walcott as well who has been electric in recent weeks, his ability to link up with the Chilean could pave the way to plenty of chances, it’s down to us to take them!

Before I wrap up this preview a word for Swansea’s new Manager, former USA National team boss Bob Bradley, the 58 year old brings a wealth of experience, organisation and back to basics Football with him, a man ludicrously criticised in the English press upon his announcement will be keen to prove a point and make his mark from day one of his tenure and in my view his attention to detail, self-confidence and the ability to motivate under-performing players must not be overlooked or taken lightly. As a keen follower of MLS and the movement stateside to really make a mark in Soccer/Football I hope he does well, just not tomorrow…

This will be the first game I have the pleasure of attending so far this season and I very much look forward to watching the team I love again, let’s hope for the sake of 14 hours of bus journeys I have ahead of me that we get the result we all hope for, in fact, at the risk of being greedy let’s hope we win and win well! COYG!

LAST 3 MEETINGS

• Arsenal 1-2 Swansea (02.03.2016)
• Swansea 0-3 Arsenal (31.10.2015)
• Arsenal 0-1 Swansea (11.05.2015)

FACTFILE

• Arsenal, have only beaten Swansea once in their 5 visits to North London.
• 2 goals or more have been scored between the two in 11 of the last 14 games.
• Swansea, have lost 5 of their last 6 games, conceding 12 goals in the process.

INJURIES

Ramsey (Hamstring) & Giroud (Toe) out. Lucas Perez fitness a doubt. Mertesacker, Welbeck and Akpom long term injuries.

STARTING XI

Cech, Bellerin, Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Walcott, Özil, Iwobi, Alexis.

GOONERSPHERE'S PREDICTION

Arsenal 2-1 Swansea

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