Arsenal 2 Swansea City 2
When the killer blow for Arsenal came, with mere seconds of normal time remaining, it felt somehow appropriate that it should be cloaked in black comedy. Three precious points appeared to be theirs and they stood not only to crown a fightback that had not been extensively trailed but to soothe the pain of the 6-0 humbling at Chelsea from last Saturday.
But Swansea, and fate, had other ideas. When Leon Britton drove into the penalty area, after a one-two with Angel Rangel, Per Mertesacker dived in to challenge and, briefly, chaos reigned. The ball hit Wojciech Szczesny and it flew back only to ricochet in off Mathieu Flamini for the most outlandish of own goals. The recalled midfielder was not the only one in Arsenal colours with that sinking feeling.
Arsenal’s recovery had been fired by the introduction of the substitute Lukas Podolski. He scored one and made the other for Olivier Giroud as Arsenal flicked a switch and looked set to banish the demons of Stamford Bridge. But the late drama seemed to catch the dispirited mood at Arsenal and it might have been worse for them had the referee, Lee Probert, not blown for full-time as Jonathan De Guzmán raced through on Szczesny’s goal. Angry Swansea players surrounded Probert at full-time.
The one thing that has sustained Arsenal throughout the assorted pitfalls of their season has been the ability to beat the teams that they ought to be beating. Not here and as the dust settled, Arsenal’s Premier League title dream felt in tatters.
Arsenal had known that victory was a pre-requisite but that has been the case for them for much of the season. The week-to-week pressure has been excruciating and when the crashes have come, most recently at Chelsea, the soul-searching has been pronounced. On one level, it has illustrated the fragility of Wenger’s latest project, not to mention the weight of all of the trophyless seasons.
The call for an Arsenal response had been sounded by Wenger and the players, which has been another feature of the cycle that the club are in and they might have been grateful for an evening game under the lights at the Emirates. Weirdly, Arsenal’s big Premier League freezes this season have come in early-afternoon kick-offs.
Poor starts have undermined them and there was another one here and a collective offering up of prayers from the home seats when Wilfried Bony flexed those mighty neck muscles to thump a header down and into the near corner of the net.
The goal was the definition of simplicity. Neil Taylor ambled up the inside-left channel before hanging a cross into the area for Bony to attack and he beat Thomas Vermaelen to bring up his 20th goal of the season. The £12m invested on him last summer looks extremely smart. Wenger slumped in his seat on the bench.
Garry Monk had welcomed back Michu to the Swansea line-up after ankle damage and, for only the fifth time in the league this season, the club could start with him and Bony together.
Michu played slightly deeper and he reinforced the midfield when Swansea did not have the ball, while Bony looked like a battering ram. His hold-up play was superb; working him off the ball appears to require a winch. But Bony did overstep the line with a late challenge on Tomas Rosicky for which he was booked.
Arsenal had plenty of the game in the first half but they laboured for a cutting edge, despite the best efforts of Santi Cazorla. A snapshot of the frustration was the sight of Rosicky hopping up and down after missing a ball to Olivier Giroud. Each misplaced Arsenal pass, and there were several, drew howls from the crowd.
Cazorla had the pick of the limited crop of first-half chances when he took a ball from Rosicky, skated past two challenges and forced Michel Vorm into a save while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had earlier worked the goalkeeper and Mertesacker headed wide from a corner.
Swansea’s threat on the counter could not be discounted and they broke with three on two after an Arsenal corner in the 23rd minute. Once again, the alarm bells sounded for the home team but Michu’s final pass was poorly chosen.
The home fans wrestled with a familiar internal struggle, between bellowing their backing and venting the angst. The Swansea centre-halves, Ashley Williams and Chico Flores, were strong and there were loud boos from the Arsenal support at the half-time whistle. Composure was needed against Monk’s tightly drilled charges but as the second-half minutes ticked, there appeared to be no signs of weakness from the visitors. Bony remained a tower of strength; Vermaelen and even Mertesacker bounced off him.
Then everything changed, in what felt like the blink of an eye, as Arsenal went from lamenting the injuries to their creative players – Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Mesut Özil and Theo Walcott would be a loss to most teams – to revelling in the stunning one-two punch.
Kieran Gibbs was the architect of the equaliser, pressing hard on to the accelerator to get past Rangel, cut along the by-line and pull back for Podolski, whose body shape was perfect to execute a difficult side-on volley. Swansea lapsed again at the re-start and, rather abruptly, all of their hard work stood to count for nothing. Angel gave away possession and when Cazorla nodded forward for Podolski, Arsenal scented the killer blow. Podolski’s cross was measured for Giroud and he tucked past Vorm from close range. Swansea, though, were not finished.
Guardian Service
