Ollie gives Neil Wat for in ding dong battle
Cech 6; Koscielny 6, Mertesacker 6, Monreal 6; Bellerin 6, Xhaka 6, Ramsey 7, Kolasinac 7 (Holding 79th); Ozil 6, Sanchez 6; Lacazette 5 (Giroud 82nd) SWANSEA: Fabianski 6; Naughton 6, Fernandez 6, Mawson 6, Van der Hoorn 6 (Narsingh 81st; Carroll 6 (McBurnie 86th), Clucas 6, Fer 6, Ki 6, Ayew 6 (Dyer 81st); Abraham 6
MISGUIDED fans might want his head but there is no denying Arsene Wenger’s incredible record as Arsenal manager.
He marked his 800th league game – only Sir Alex Ferguson has more on 810 – with the kind of win that has become his trademark in recent seasons.
Arsenal dominated play, switched the ball in mouthwatering fashion, only to fall behind against a lowly side hell-bent on defending and relying on the odd breaks.
Then, true to form, they pulled rabbits from hats.
You have to doff your cap to Wenger. Unsung heroes have appeared aplenty over the years and none more so yesterday than Bosnian man mountain Sead Kolasinac.
The wing-back, always in the action until being withdrawn, scored to lead the fightback and then helped create another when it looked as Arsenal had run out of ideas.
Until he arrived on these shores few had heard of him. Wenger simply has the magic touch.
The Emirates boss said: “It shows there are bargains out there if you are willing to look.
“Sead had adapted well because he is honest, works hard and has a body strength to combat the Premier League. He had a hip injury before the game and I wanted to rest him. He refused to stand down and that says a lot about him.
“Swansea made it tough but we battled through.”
This was not vintage Arsenal, this was an Arsenal that needed to roll their sleeves up against a side that are fighting hard to stay in the Premier League. Per Mertesacker tested the hands of former Gunners keeper Lukasz Fabianski early with a decent header from Alexis Sanchez’s eighth-minute free-kick.
It led to boring one-way traffic until Swansea launched their first assault on Arsenal’s goal with stunning success.
The visitors are something of a bogey team, who have won more than they have lost against one of football’s finest and took a shock 24th-minute lead.
Tammy Abraham shrugged off Laurent Koscielny after Mike van der Hoorn’s long cross-field pass and slipped a glorious ball for Sam Clucas to dart in from the left to score.
To put it into perspective, Swansea had previously attempted just 18 shots on target and 72 shots overall this season in the Premier League – the fewest in the division.
Spurs striker Harry Kane has attempted three more on his own (21).
It is not often Arsenal fans call his name but contract rebel Mesut Ozil fought hard to get them back in the game.
On his day a world beater, more often these days he seems to be a player looking to a future away from the Gunners.
Yet, you cannot deny his record. He created eight goalscoring chances against Everton last weekend – the most in a single Premier League Sead Kolasinac L Mason Red Star Belgrade (H), Nov 2 Brighton (H), Nov 4 game by a player this season. Since his Premier League debut in September 2013, he has the most assists (43) and has created the most chances (417) in the competition.
Yet, despite his prompting, Swansea could have added a second before the break when Jordan Ayew easily brushed Mertesacker off the ball and with only Petr Cech to beat fired into the side-netting from 10 yards.
The second half started much the same. Arsenal going forward and Swansea not just parking a bus in front of goal, more a whole depot.
This time, however, Arsenal managed to crack their defensive wall.
Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and many more were involved until the ball was rolled wide for Kolasinac to powerfully drive home with his left foot in the 51st minute.
Koscielny should have added another four minutes later but headed a Sanchez free-kick down and over.
Kolasinac, fast becoming a cult hero, had a hand in Arsenal’s second.
Granit Xhaka swung over a cross, the Bosnian headed back across goal and Ramsey sweetly turned home in the 57th minute.
Wenger started his Arsenal career with a 2-1 win at Blackburn.
He added: “I like deja vu. All victories are sweet. I enjoy everyone.”
Swansea manager Paul Clement said: “Our first goal shocked them a bit but we could have then added a second and who knows what might have happened after that?
“We performed well, lost out on a few details, but if we play like that again we will win more than we lose.” BRENTFORD extended their unbeaten run to six games with victory over Preston in an end-to-end game at Deepdale – but they were forced to do it the hard way.
Three goals came in 10 second-half minutes with Ollie Watkins eventually striking the winner, which ended Preston’s unbeaten home record this season.
Defeat also extended the Lilywhites’ winless run to four league games.
North End manager Alex Neil said: “I thought the game was patchy without one team being dominant throughout the 90 minutes.
“We got the goal to make it
2-2 and I thought we could go on and win it.”
The visitors took the lead after 25 minutes as Florian Jozefzoon found space again and his powerful strike was parried by Chirs Maxwell but straight to Nico Yennaris who nodded in from eight yards.
Preston almost struck back instantly but Sean Maguire headed Daniel Johnson’s cross over from six yards.
Neil’s side were on level terms after 41 minutes as Sean Maguire picked up a Jordan Hugill flick-on and drove at the retreating Brentford defence before firing low into the corner.
The game was then delayed as Yennaris received significant medical treatment after seemingly being inadvertently caught by Hugill’s shoulder on the stroke of half-time, before being carried off to applause from both sets of fans.
Bees boss Dean Smith said: “Nobody saw it at the time but when you see it back it could easily be a red card.
“Hugill could easily get out of the way but he’s dipped his shoulder into Nico’s head.”
Brentford were back in front after 56 minutes through substitute Romaine Sawyers.
Tom Barkhuizen struck from
20 yards to level the scores but three minutes later Jozefzoon broke in behind and slid a simple ball across the area where Watkins tapped in from six yards.
Smith added: “We want to back up this performance on Wednesday against Birmingham. We don’t want to rest on our laurels, no game is easy in this league.”