Swansea City vs Arsenal – English Premier League – Preview

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Sreya

Arsenal travel to Liberty Stadium on Saturday to face Swansea City in the aftermath of their League Cup defeat against Sheffield Wednesday. Arsenal are second in league standings with twenty two points and are one of the favourites for the Premier League title come next summer. Swansea City made a difficult start to the season but won against Aston Villa last week, after three losses in their five previous matches.

Team News

Garry Monk’s side will have benefited from not having to exert themselves in the Capital One Cup in midweek and they have a fully fit squad available for the reception of Arsenal. Jack Cork is expected to return to the starting line-up which will undoubtedly add a lot of defensive solidarity in front of the backline.

Arsenal are going through their annual injury crisis with as many as seven players ruled out with some form of a health issue. Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlaide Chamberlain joined Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky, Danny Welbeck, Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey on the sidelines this past week. David Ospina is doubtful as well, although he was unlikely to start ahead of Petr Cech.

Swansea City Possible Starting Lineup: Lukasz Fabianski, Kyle Naughton, Federico Fernandez, Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor, Jack Cork, Jonjo Shelvey, Andre Awey, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Jefferson Montero, Bafetimbi Gomis.

Arsenal Possible Starting Lineup: Petr Cech, Hector Bellerin, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Nacho Monreal, Francis Coquelin, Mathieu Flamini, Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla, Olivier Giroud.

Contributor’s Pick

Arsenal have won nine of their last eleven away matches in the Premier League and Arsene Wenger will be looking for a reaction from his players after the shocking result in the League Cup tie. Arsenal have not only scored a minimum of two goals in their last four games, but the Gunners have completely dominated their opposition on all aspects of their game.

Swansea City, meanwhile have been out of form, only winning by a single goal margin against Aston Villa. Prior to that, Swansea had lost to Watford, Southampton and Stoke City, with two draws at home (against Tottenham Hotspur and Everton) sandwiched in between.

According to Head-2-Head statistics, Arsenal have won 43% of its matches against Swansea till date, but only three in the last six. Injuries have left Arsene Wenger void of any impact options on the substitute’s bench and slightly balanced the equations in Swansea City’s favour. However, based on current form, Arsenal should win the match 2-1.