Kolasinac the spark as Arsenal struggle to pick apart Swansea
This might have been nervy, unconvincing and perhaps only latterly deserved, but after such a tense week internally, it already felt like a moment in Arsenal’s season when the result was all that mattered. A rebellion of small shareholders was publicly evident at the club’s annual general meeting inside the Emirates on Thursday but the players narrowly ensured that it did not spread externally after overcoming the booing that greeted a 1-0 half-time deficit to beat Swansea City 2-1.
Sead Kolasinac delivered when Arsenal most needed him, scoring to end 51 minutes of Swansea resistance and then providing the assist for Aaron Ramsey, a Cardiff City boy, to score the winner against the Premier League’s only Welsh representative. Arsene Wenger had lost three times to Swansea in only six Premier League fixtures previously at the Emirates and relief was his overriding emotion at the end of his 800th game as Arsenal manager.
“I could feel worried at half-time,” he said. “It was important to play quicker, sharper and with more penetration. Kolasinac was decisive and, since he has arrived, he has convinced everybody that there are still some good deals to make.” Kolasinac was a free signing last summer from Schalke, although the one worry for Arsenal from this game was the sight of him limping off with pain around his hip.
Wenger said that it was a long-standing problem which he expects to be resolved ahead of facing Manchester City at the Etihad next Sunday. After the 5-2 win against Everton, it would have felt strange for Wenger not to continue with Alexandre Lacazette, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez as his attacking trio but it was soon obvious that their qualities would be rather less suited to facing Swansea.
Paul Clement’s formation might have been advertised as 3-5-2 but the reality was that the two wing-backs were generally pinned back level with his three central defenders, who also had the security of three defensively minded central midfielders patrolling in front. Swansea had only conceded one away goal all season and a predictable pattern soon emerged.
Arsenal, whose attack was lacking natural width, physicality and aerial presence, tried to use their technical qualities to pass through swathes of Swansea bodies. “We were dominant but laboured,” Wenger said. Their football soon also became risky, for the longer Arsenal prodded and probed around the edge of Swansea’s penalty area, the more players like Ramsey, Granit Xhaka, Kolasinac and Hector Bellerin drifted up in support. Swansea’s system might have been designed to frustrate Arsenal but there was also an attacking threat in both Tammy Abraham and Jordan Ayew, especially whenever Per Mertesacker was left isolated on the counter-attack. Two lapses in concentration were to coincide with two moments of real quality.
First, Laurent Koscielny’s heavy touch allowed Abraham to take possession, and he exposed how Bellerin had drifted forward to release Sam Clucas into space down the left. Clucas was head-on with Petr Cech and calmly sidefooted his finish beneath the goalkeeper. The goal gave Swansea added belief in what had been a perfectly executed game-plan, and for the rest of the first-half they absorbed Arsenal’s increasingly desperate attacks and should also have extended their lead.
Wenger must have been tempted to make half-time changes, given the more direct threats of Oliver Giroud and Theo Walcott on the bench, but he kept his nerve and the team did reemerge with renewed energy. Not for the first time this season, Kolasinac was the inspiration, and he powered a shot beyond Lukasz Fabianski. The sense of relief coincided with Arsenal’s most fluent period, and after Koscielny had missed an excellent headed chance, Kolasinac crossed for Ramsey to finish inside Fabianski’s near post.