How to sum up today? A Swansea side with six changes including a youngster making his debut have seen off Arsenal, who are now six points behind Leicester with 10 games left. What a world. Thanks as always for following with us and be sure to check back later for a full match report.
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Arsenal had high hopes on making history this season, but we’re not sure this is what they had in mind. Twitter user @JKITFC says this is the first time the Gunners have lost three straight matches in all competitions in nearly six years.
Arsenal have lost three consecutive games in all competitions for the first time since April 2010. pic.twitter.com/783dVssM2m
— Joe (@JKITFC) March 2, 2016
Some thoughts from the gallery. First from Charles Antaki, via email:
I was wrong about Ramsey being under scrutiny for the poverty of his display. What I meant as, the entire team, the manager, probably the kit man as well. And certainly Steve Bould.
And from Jonathan Gresty, also via email:
If the games stay as they are now, there will be a conga in the streets of Leicester tonight to rival anything Rio could produce. Traffic may come to a standstill.
Of course he’d sent that before the final whistle, so the East Midlands answer to Carnival may well have already begun.
Full-time: Arsenal 1-2 Swansea City
There’s the final whistle and Arsenal’s title hopes are in tatters after a shocking home loss to Swansea, an unthinkable development after Sunday’s loss to Manchester United. Wenger looks crushed as does his side, which struck first and but thrice hit the woodwork in vain chance of a second that would prove essential thanks to a pair of Swansea goals.
90 min+5: A free kick won by Arsenal out wide. Ozil takes it and it’s punched away. Arsenal then win a corner off a throw-in and Cech comes forward ... and Swansea nearly score an empty-netter on a counter-attack. The effort fritters off an Arsenal player in full retreat but it’s immaterial as there’s the final whistle.
90 min+3: Stunningly low energy from both the crowd and the Arsenal players given what’s at stake here. Nothing happening in the early stages of injury time.
90 min: Ramsey clatters to the turf in the area as Arsenal players half-heartedly appeal for a penalty. They won’t have it. Fourth official signals for five minutes of stoppage time.
89 min: Angel Rangel comes on for Andre Ayew.
87 min: Walcott’s header is comfortably collected by Fabianski.
86 min: Ramsey with a cross into the area but Fabianski is quick off the line to punch it away. It falls to Ozil who tries to pick out Walcott, but it’s out for a corner.
83 min: Nervous energy throughout the Emirates as Arsenal’s title hopes hang in the balance. Look for the Gunners to throw everyone ahead in a bid to salvage points out of what’s quickly descended into a familiar late-season nightmare for the Gunners.
78 min: Ozil’s corner is sent toward Giroud, whose header is easily collected by Fabianski. Moments earlier Routledge, Swansea’s first goalscorer, was shown yellow.
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75 min: Walcott on for Sanchez, Arsenal’s second sub, as silence swallows the Emirates.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-2 Swansea City (Williams, 74 min)
Uh-oh. Swansea win a free kick from just outside the right side of the area. Sigurdsson takes it but no Arsenal player seems particularly concerned with interrupting its trajectory. From there Williams merely bundles it in near the far post. Wenger looks unhappy.
Uh-oh. Arsenal in danger of falling even more behind in title race. #BPLonNBC https://t.co/GrXhn0ski0
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) March 2, 2016
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70 min: A second sub for Swansea as the young Scottish midfielder Jay Fulton enters for Fer.
68 min: A free kick won by Arsenal. Ozil and Sanchez standing over it. A very dangerous spot, maybe a click over 20 yards from the target. It’s Alexis who takes it ... and he rattles the crossbar yet again! Third time he’s found the woodwork after hitting the post and twice striking the crossbar. Unlucky.
65 min: Almost immediately it’s Swansea with perhaps their best chance of the night besides the goal: it’s Gylfi Sigurdsson who takes advantage of some ghastly defending to find himself alone in front of goal with only a tightly angled shot between him and the lead. He misses it.
64 min: Danny Welbeck enters for Joel Campbell, Arsenal’s first switch. (No excuses, Ezra.)
62 min: A Swansea player id won. It looks like Fer. Wenger furious. Fans boo and jeer.
60 min: Both teams’ benches come alive at the hour mark. Substitutions loom. Ezra Finkelstein chimes in, via email:
Why isn’t Danny Welbeck on the field? That’s why they’re level.
59 min: Arsenal win a free kick. It’s taken by Ozil, sent in the general vicinity of Sanchez. If any closer it would have been an simple goal, but it’s just off the mark.
57 min: Arsenal win a corner. Ozil to take it. The ball is in to Sanchez, who chests it down to his foot, takes a single touch and uncorks a right-footed shot that skids wide. Very good chance, that.
54 min: Sanchez to Ramsey to Monreal to Giroud to Campbell as the Arsenal forward players boot it about the perimeter of the area, but they’re ultimately dispossessed.
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52 min: A long ball from Sanchez to Ozil finds the German on the edge of the area, but he whiffs on a left-footed shot.
50 min: A note from Stephen in Shelford, via email:
Arsenal need to get this game out of sight & sub cleverly to rest key players for the Spurs game - or go hell for leather and redeem their unimpressive goal difference. Routledge’s goal suggests that the actual game plan is to grind out a one-goal victory with five minutes to spare and a Sanchez/ Ozil/ Coquelin injury.
I hope I’m wrong but I suspect I’m not. The commentator for the Arsenal website sounds so weary...
49 min: Arsenal really knocking on the door here early. Sanchez and Campbell run riot up the right flank before running into the adamant Swansea back line. Sanchez uncorks a shot from the edge of the area but it’s blocked by a defender and subsequently cleared.
48 min: Another gorgeous ball from Campbell to Bellerin, but he’s been mobbed by defenders and it’s given away.
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46 min: The House of Pain playing over the Emirates sound system subsides, the whistle blows, Swansea kick off and we’re off and running in the second half. One half-time substitution: Gylfi Sigurdsson comes on for Ki Sung-yueng.
Half-time: Arsenal 1-1 Swansea City
Here’s a look at the half-time statistics. Arsenal with the edge in most categories, yet deadlocked in the one that matters.
45 min+1: The ball is overhit and is deflected out for a throw-in. Swansea win a corner, but it’s wasted and referee Robert Madley blows the whistle shortly thereafter.
45 min: The visitors are on the attack as half-time draws near. Campbell hacks down Kingsley, conceding a free kick on the left edge of the area. Fourth official has signaled for one minute of stoppage time.
41 min: Corner is taken and Giroud’s first-time volley caroms loudly off the crossbar! A screamer, well taken but inches off the mark.
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40 min: Ayew shown yellow for a foul on Monreal, giving Arsenal a free kick from a dangerous area. It’s out for a corner.
38 min: Another Arsenal attack keyed up the right side by Campbell, whose been crucial in attack today goal notwithstanding. He slaloms past a pair of defenders before trying to set up Bellerin, but the cross in blocked away.
35 min: Arsenal pressuring now with a series of crosses into the area that are turned away in succession. Now a counter-attack for Swansea, who slow after crossing the halfway line.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-1 Swansea City (Routledge, 32 min)
Arsenal a bit lackadaisical in their own half before it winds up in the hands of Cech. He boots it past the halfway line but it’s headed back to Jack Cork, who gives a beautiful pass to Routledge, who receives and within two touches slots it past Cech into the bottom corner for his first goal in over a year. And it’s a crucial one.
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28 min: Another shot from Arsenal – this time Campbell on the right side of the area off the give from Ozil – but it’s a slow roller easily corralled by Fabianski.
26 min: Fer’s shot sails over the crossbar. He calls for a corner, arguing that Cech’s hand graced the ball (which the replay suggests it might indeed have), but it’s not given.
24 min: Campbell will a gorgeous ball to Ozil, but his left-footed shot is blocked by a lunging Kingsley. The rebound falls to Bellerin outside the area, but his right-footed screamer toward the far post is wrested by an outstretched Fabianski.
22 min: Swansea on the attack but they’re dispossessed near the halfway line. Alexis Sanchez is fouled and Arsenal will have a free kick from about 40 yards out dead center. It’s played short and intercepted by Swansea.
20 min: The teams have traded possession mostly since the goal, which was a beauty.
#AFC 1-0 #Swans Bright start by #Arsenal rewarded by Campbell (via @StatsZone https://t.co/QAGcCQr8j3): pic.twitter.com/kZ6SqfJblA
— Stats Zone (@StatsZone) March 2, 2016
17 min: Swansea win a corner, but it’s cleared away easily by Ramsey.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Swansea City (Campbell, 15 min)
And the Gunners are ahead on a fabulous goal from Joel Campbell. A lovely ball from Sanchez is played into the right edge of the area, where Campbell’s tightly angled sliding half-volley finish beats Fabianski to the far post. A breathtaking goal to put the hosts ahead.
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12 min: An note from Charles Antaki, via email:
Probably the Arsenal player under most scrutiny - and it’s a crowded field - is Aaron Ramsey. Leaving aside perennial disappointment Theo Walcott, he was particularly vapid against Man U. Another one of those performances and fans’ ardour will quickly cool to freezing point.
He’s done well so far with deep runs into the final third even if he’s got nothing yet to show for it.
11 min: Sanchez has found the woodwork with a cracker of a shot off the far post that repelled into Fabianski’s hands. He actually missed the first attempt off the volley but drove a screamer toward the goal on the second attempt. Very nearly 1-0 to the hosts.
8 min: Lazy ball by a Swansea midfielder in the final third leads to a swift Arsenal counter-attack. It’s worked up the left side, but ultimately the hosts are flagged offside. It was Monreal who was off.
7 min: Another chance for Giroud in the area, but his right-footed shot caroms off a defender. Gunners doing well to force the action early. Elsewhere in London, West Ham have gone up 1-0 on Spurs.
Writes JR from Illinois, via email:
The good news for Arsenal fans is that West Ham has taken the lead against Spurs. The bad news for everyone is that it was Antonio who scored and sadly he did not repeat his goal celebration from the weekend.
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5 min: The ball is through again to Giroud in the area, but none of his team-mates are in the immediate vicinity and his backheel to no one in particular is vacuumed up by the opponents.
3 min: Giroud with the first shot of the match off a set-up from Alexis but the attempt is blocked away.
2 min: Swansea dispossess Arsenal in their half and work it up the right flank through Norton. Eventually it’s played through to Gomis, but Cech is quick to collect it before he can have a go on goal.
1 min: And they’re underway! Arsenal kick it off in traditional home kits attacking left to right, Swansea in blue and green hooped away shirts with green shorts attacking right to left. It’s played back by the Gunners and up the right side where a high-pressing Swansea immediately foul.
The players have emerged from the tunnel on a soggy night at the Emirates. Not much longer now.
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An email from Thomas D Black asking for news regarding Laurent Koscielny’s absence. Per the team, the Frenchman is out with a “slight calf problem”.
.@6_LKOSCIELNY misses today’s game with a slight calf problem #AFCvSCFC pic.twitter.com/SNuzMtzXjN
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) March 2, 2016
Hello and welcome to the Emirates for today’s match between Arsenal and Swansea City. The Gunners will try to rebound from 3-2 loss at Manchester United on Sunday that’s left them third and six points adrift of league-leading Leicester City, who dropped points yesterday after drawing 2-2 with West Brom.
With kick-off about 20 minutes from now, here’s a look at today’s teams.
Arsenal
XI: Cech, Bellerín, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Monreal, Coquelin, Ramsey, Campbell, Özil, Sánchez, Giroud
Subs: Gibbs, Ospina, Walcott, Flamini, Chambers, Welbeck, Elneny
Swansea City
XI: Fabianski, Naughton, Amat, Williams (c), Kingsley, Cork, Fer, Ki Sung-Yueng, Routledge, Ayew, Gomis
Subs: Nordfeldt, Rangel, Fernandez, Fulton, Barrow, Sigurdsson, Paloschi
Bryan will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s news on some Arsenal injuries:
Santi Cazorla has suffered a setback in his recovery from knee ligament surgery, with Arsène Wenger saying the Arsenal midfielder had felt a reaction in his achilles.
Jack Wilshere, too, continues to make slow progress in his fight to come back from the fractured fibula that has wrecked his season and he has effectively been ruled out until April, meaning he will miss the England internationals at the end of this month against Germany and Holland.
Wenger also said the midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain would be out for six to eight weeks with the knee ligament injury he suffered against Barcelona in the Champions League last Tuesday to complete an unfortunate treble before Swansea’s visit to the Emirates on Wednesday night.
Cazorla, who has been sorely missed after he ruptured the lateral collateral ligament in his knee at Norwich City on 29 November, said last week he was “working better every day” and he had targeted the Champions League last 16 second-leg against Barcelona on 16 March for his comeback.
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