Swansea won’t fly away from the fight:
For much of the season, Swansea have looked short of quality, confidence but most worryingly of all, courage. Their seven-year top-flight stay has been miraculous, mainly due to the fact that until last season, they had never been mired down in a relegation scrap.
They battled through last year with enough quality at their disposal, but this season, it’s been clear for all to see their threadbare squad is missing a sparkle.
Their calamitous handling of recent transfer windows has been brutally exposed after allowing Fernando Llorente to depart in the summer for a place on the Spurs bench, while they let Gylfi Sigurdsson go in the final days without identifying a suitable replacement.
Jordan Ayew is one of few players who can change a game, but he is also a tremendous worker, and while he toiled and troubled Arsenal, Sam Clucas fed off his energy.
Although they may not have the guile and craft of previous Swansea teams, they proved last night they have plenty of heart, and that could be crucial in their battle to make it an eighth year in the Premier League. They will need plenty more performances like this one. But, getting up for the big games has never been an issue for the plucky Welsh side.
Crucial to Carlos Carvalhal’s plan moving forward must be to get his men firing for the games against the sides around them in the scrap for survival.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan fails to make his mark
Arsenal fans travelling up the M4 to South Wales would have been praying for a glimpse of their new signing, who may well have wished he’d kept his ill-timed comments on former coach Jose Mourinho buried.
Mkhitaryan had said before the game he was looking forward to getting started at his new club, especially keen to get back to playing attacking football, in what appeared a thinly-veiled dig at Mourinho.
The Armenian started on the bench, emerging to applause in the 60th minute. It was a miserable night weather-wise in South Wales, and Mkhitaryan could do little to raise the spirits of either his team or fans as Arsenal looked bereft of ideas against a lively and combative home side.
While Alexis Sanchez, the man who replaced him at Manchester United, impressed on his debut against Yeovil in the FA Cup on Friday wearing the iconic No.7 shirt, Arsenal’s new No.7 failed to make much of an impression, albeit he only had a 30-minute cameo.
That was enough time for him to see a sight of goal, but with the space of the Swansea box to himself as he latched onto Mesut Ozil’s insightful lobbed pass, he nodded tamely at former Gunners’ stopper Lukasz Fabianski and held his head in his hands.
Wenger must bring in Aubameyang to get Gunners firing
Alexandre Lacazette was brought in at some expense in the summer and has performed admirably on his Premier League bow, but Arsene Wenger must break the bank again on Wednesday to bring in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to add some much-needed firepower to his frontline.
Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund have agreed a fee for the lethal Gabon international, but the fact the German side are not yet set on the 28-year-old’s replacement could scupper the deal getting across the line.
Unlike in other transfer windows, for once the red tape holding up the deal is not the fault of the Gunners, but Wenger must do everything he can to get Aubameyang through the doors at the Emirates, because this toothless display proved they desperately need some firepower.
Aubameyang is one of the most deadly finishers in world football and would instantly upgrade the Gunners’ attack. Add in the fact he would line-up alongside a former team-mate in Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Arsenal fans are right to be excited. Adding a world-class talent to the ranks will energise the whole club and provide a timely boost.
Defeat to a team battling relegation proved that despite recent good results and making the EFL Cup final, Arsenal are far too inconsistent and in dire need of a striker who will find the net regularly.
