Daily Archives: May 11, 2015

Arsenal 0 Swansea 1: Player Ratings

After enjoying a blistering run of form as well as an impregnable record at home, Arsenal blew away their chances of finishing second with a pretty pathetic performance against Swansea. Here are the ratings.

DEFENSE

David Ospina didn’t have much to all game long but he should disappointed to have allowed Batefembi Gomis’ header get past him like that. 6/10

Hector Bellerin had a good game from an attacking perspective and did well to put some decent balls into the box. Shame there was no one to get on the end of them. He should have done better against Jefferson Montero in the build up to the Colombian’s assist. 6/10

Nacho Monreal balanced his attacking and defensive play superbly and quelled every threat Nathan Dyer posed. 6/10

Per Mertesacker had a simple day at the office. His distribution was quite impressive too. 6/10

Laurent Koscielny was relatively untroubled in the course of the game and swept a couple of balls well. 6/10

MIDFIELD

Francis Coquelin did his job with minimal fuss and it’s glaring that Arsenal’s balance was affected when he was substituted. 6/10

Mesut Ozil made a couple of penetrating runs but his creativity over the course of the game was quite questionable. 6/10

Santi Cazorla started in his usual deep position but he tried a couple of goal attempts that were blocked by the Swansea rearguard. The only shot that managed to get past the defenders went straight at the goalie. 6/10

Aaron Ramsey had a couple of half chances and could have done better with them. He was quite frustrating at times too. 5/10

Jack Wilshere showed some fluidity to his game and injected some life into Arsenal’s attacking play. However, there was no real penetration. 6/10

ATTACK

Alexis Sanchez was smothered on a couple of occasions and would be wondering how he failed to connect with what was undoubtedly the chance of the game. 6/10

Olivier Giroud has been poor since Thierry Henry made those comments about him and he didn’t do anything to convince the manager and the fans. Really poor showing from Arsenal’s alpha-dog in attack. 4/10

Theo Walcott showed how match rusty he has become with so many minutes out of the game as he fluffed a couple of chances that came his way. 5/10.

Do you agree with these ratings? Feel free to share yours with your comments.

Sayonara.

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Posted in Arsenal

2 Comments

Swansea Preview: Team News, Injury Updates and Predicted Lineups

May 11

Posted by enigma106

The last time both teams met in November, the Gunners grabbed the lead through Alexis Sanchez but were undone by a resilient Swansea side on a very rainy night at the Liberty Stadium. The game will also be remembered for the duel between Jefferson Montero and Calum Chambers and if my memory serves me right, the South American winger took poor ol’ Chambers to the cleaners and even went on to provide the assist that put the game beyond doubt. Fast forward to May, Swansea occupy a modest eight placed position, and are some 27 points behind the Gunners that have their eyes fixed on a second placed finish.

Manchester City’s decimation of QPR has doomed Chris Ramsey’s men to relegation but it has further enhanced their goal difference to plus 41, eight goals better off than the Gunners so it’s very evident that the only way the Gunners can finish in second place is by garnering more points than Manchester City.

Tonight’s match is going to take place at the Emirates Stadium, a ground that has become a fortress for Arsene Wenger’s men in recent times. The Gunners record at home is very impressive as they have lost just one of their last 34 Premier League matches at the Emirates (W24, D9). They have conceded just two goals in their last seven Premier League games at the Emirates but it’s quite strange to know that Arsenal’s last win over Swansea on this ground was as far back as 2011, when a certain Andrei Arshavin scored the solitary goal following an error from Michelle Vorm in a warm September afternoon. Last season, Arsenal would have grabbed all three points against Swansea, but an unfortunate own goal from Mathieu Flamini leveled the contest.

Team News

Wenger has been discussing about some individual players in the squad and he laid some focus on his defenders. The boss believes that Calum Chambers would end up as a center back someday and he has been impressed with the way Laurent Koscielny has grown to become a colossus at the back. Hector Bellerin has talked about his delight in playing regular football but it’s going to be very interesting to see how things pan out at right back because Wenger still harbors plans to keep Carl Jenkinson.

The boss raised some doubts about the fitness of Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck which would be a cause for concern for the fans. The Gunners have an important game against Manchester United coming up next week and they’d have to be at their best to get a good result against their eternal rivals. To achieve this feat, Wenger would need his best players at his disposal.

Injury Updates

Arsenal: Matt Debuchy (hamstring), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (hamstring), Mikel Arteta and Abou Diaby (lacking match fitness), Aaron Ramsey (knock), Danny Welbeck (knee).

Swansea: Kyle Naughton, Wayne Routledge, Tom Carroll and Nelson Olivieira (ankle), Jordi Amat (foot).

Team Form

Arsenal