The Match
Swansea found form last week before being humbled by Lee Clark's Birmingham side on Wednesday. They'll be looking to put that result swiftly behind them and get back to winning ways against a side they've enjoyed playing of late, picking up some excellent results in the last few games between these sides. Last time out, goals from Monreal & Gervinho were enough for the Gunners to claim a 2-0 win at the Liberty, so Laudrup will no doubt be looking to avenge that result this weekend.
Arsenal needed penalties to see off West Brom (although they had put out a very young side in the midweek cup game) after some excellent early-season form saw them dismiss any speculation surrounding their ability to compete this season. They're on a run of eight straight wins, and the signing of Mesut Ozil lifted a club which seemed to be set to embark on a league campaign without any improvement in the quality of the squad, and his early-season form, coupled with the re-emergence of Aaron Ramsey as a serious, serious player will have given Arsenal fans hope that this season could be a lot more successful than they'd previously thought.
Prior Form (Most recent at top)
Team News - provided by Physioroom.com's Ben Dinnery
Swansea entertain Arsenal on Saturday night as part of SkySports early evening coverage of the match at The Liberty Stadium. The disappointing news for Swans supporters is that playmaker Pablo Hernandez remains out with a hamstring problem despite being expected to return. The Jacks may also be without the services of captain and key central defender Ashley Williams. The Welsh International has been struggling in recent times with an on-going ankle problem which manager Michael Laudrup insists is not serious but “rest” is the key to his recovery. Williams will face a late fitness test, however, the prognosis is not good and he is expected to miss out.
Arsenal have their own injury concerns, well documented throughout the season Arsene Wenger has had to contend with further additions to the treatment table after the in-form Aaron Ramsey reported to have a minor thigh injury while Frenchman Mathieu Flamini is struggling with a “slight shoulder” issue. Both players will be assessed nearer the game but they are expected to be included in the match-day squad. Saturday will come too early for Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky who has just returned to training, the midweek Champions League tie against Napoli midweek is more likely. The Gunners are also without the services of Santi Cazorla, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lukas Podolski and Yaya Sanogo for the trip to Wales.
Arsenal have their own injury concerns, well documented throughout the season Arsene Wenger has had to contend with further additions to the treatment table after the in-form Aaron Ramsey reported to have a minor thigh injury while Frenchman Mathieu Flamini is struggling with a “slight shoulder” issue. Both players will be assessed nearer the game but they are expected to be included in the match-day squad. Saturday will come too early for Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky who has just returned to training, the midweek Champions League tie against Napoli midweek is more likely. The Gunners are also without the services of Santi Cazorla, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lukas Podolski and Yaya Sanogo for the trip to Wales.
Completely guessed lineups
Statistics & Trivia
- The Swans have conceded only one goal away from home, but have leaked six in two matches at the Liberty so far.
- Arsenal are looking to continue their run of 11 consecutive away wins - already a club record.
- Swansea have the best pass completion rate in the Premier League (87.3%) and have also played the most passes (2860).
- Arsenal only have one clean sheet in five PL matches.
- Swansea have had four players booked for dissent already - the most in the league. Not good, and that needs to stop!
- The Swans' early goals against Palace & Liverpool are the two fastest goals scored this season in the PL.
- Arsenal are yet to score from outside the area in the PL this season.
- Arsenal just edge the Swans in terms of average possession, with 56.2% as opposed to 55.9%.
- Arsenal have the best shot conversion rate (20.4 per cent) and shooting accuracy (61.1 per cent) in the Premier League.
Straight from the horse's mouth
Swansea manager Michael Laudrup was surprised by Mesut Ozil's move to North London, and believes Arsenal will give his side a stern test:
"I have to admit I was very surprised when I saw he had left Real Madrid as he is a fantastic player. Arsenal is a great club too but with Real Madrid you are playing in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals of the Champions League.“I was also surprised with the way it happened on the last day of the transfer window as I did not imagine a player with his quality would be changing team at the last moment
"Even before signing Ozil, the strongest part of their side was the midfield with Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla and after adding Ozil there is so much quality. Fortunately Cazorla can not play against us, but they are still very good in that area.
"They lost the first game and experts were saying they would have a tough year, but now they have won games including a difficult Champions League game. It's a fantastic start.
"It will be difficult for us as their midfield is strong and Olivier Giroud has shown Wenger he wants to repay the faith he has shown in him, and Aaron Ramsey has also had a great start to the season.
"I'm looking forward to an exciting game, but also a difficult one."
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has been impressed by Michael Laudrup's stewardship of the Swans:
“What he’s done is absolutely fantastic,” he said."Overall they buy well, they play attractive football. Swansea are a very, very good team."Swansea are a team now where the level of expectation is higher than the year before, so of course everybody wants them to be performing in the top seven or eight, what I think they have the quality to do."
Analysis
Swansea will really, really be hoping for a win from this one. Four excellent performances in a row didn't stop Birmingham romping away in the second half on Wednesday, and Laudrup will have to make sure his players put in a much better shift this time around.
In fairness, he'd made ten changes to the side which beat Crystal Palace and it's likely most of those changes will be reversed for this one, with the possible exclusion of Ashley Williams, who's evidently starting to feel the effects of missing only a handful of games in his five years at the club. His dedication is enviable, but playing ninety minutes against Palace is now starting to look possibly a little short-sighted, as he was clearly feeling the effects of the ankle injury which kept him out of the Valencia game and needs rest if he's to recover fully.
Wenger is sweating over the fitness of midfielders Flamini and Ramsey, and for good reason. Before departing for more money, Flamini was easily Arsenal's best player that year, while Ramsey has started this season on fire. He's got seven goals in his last eight games - a remarkable feat for a player who'd only scored eleven goals in his five previous seasons. With those two anchoring the midfield they will undoubtedly test Swansea's own deep-lying midfielders, but as they both face late fitness tests it's possible even if they do start, they won't be 100%.
If that's the case the Swans need to capitalise and let Arsenal know they're there - but with the Swans engine-room likely to contain Shelvey, Canas & Michu I think that was always a certainty. Those boys do like an extended sprint followed by a big sliding tackle. Considering the lack of bite in our midfield last year, it seems if anything we've overcompensated! Canas has settled in incredibly well, and with Shelvey showing growing signs of maturity we could well test Arsenal's possession game and hold onto the ball effectively.
The lengthy injury list at Arsenal is likely to be the biggest thing going in the Swans' favour. That being said, they are still likely to line up with a team including Mesut Ozil, Jack Wilshire & Olivier Giroud - the Swans back-line will have to be wide-awake from the off and Arsenal's three set-piece goals against Stoke indicate that we will have to guard against corners and free-kicks stringently too. Previously a weak area of Arsenal's attack (and Swansea's defence) it seems the presence of Ozil has remedied an ailing area which Wenger had been looking to improve for a while. It really is a shame Ash is likely to miss out...
With Nacho Monreal possibly being deployed in an advanced role it's likely whoever is playing on the right-hand side will have limited joy, so the Swans could spend a lot of time attacking down the left. Get in Wilshere's face and get at them boys - a look at the predicted lineup (if it's anything near correct) would seem to indicate we'll fare better by doing that than by trying to go through the middle or down the left, and I'm hopeful Wayne Routledge gets a chance to attack Wilshere & Sagna. The formerly-nomadic wideman has looked a different player under Laudrup, and keeps improving - hopefully he can make a mark against a club he'd no doubt love to score against given his time spent at their North London rivals Spurs.
Definitely one for the purists (god knows how many times that will be said in the media this weekend) this match is certainly one to keep an eye on. Last time out at the Liberty we came away disappointed, but had the small consolation of Wales thrashing England in the rugby directly afterwards to console us. This time, there's nothing to shift the focus and a positive result would serve as another confidence boost for a squad starting to gel and find their feet, but more importantly it would mean another three points on the board.
By my maths, if we maintained that rate (10 points after 6 games) we'd finish the season on around 63 points. I'd take that...