Swansea 0-4 Arsenal: Highlights and recap

Arsenal dominated Swansea on the way to a 4-0 win at the Liberty on Saturday. Here are all the highlights from the match.

Arsenal seemed to be righting the ship heading into their match against Bournemouth on Jan. 3 having won their two previous league matches. Unfortunately for Gunners fans, they needed a ridiculous comeback just to draw 3-3 and save a point.

The tie, along with wins by Manchester City and fierce rival Tottenham, left Arsenal looking in from the outside on the top four. They trail both of the aforementioned clubs by one point, meaning a result against Swansea is of the utmost importance.

Arsenal fans are probably experiencing a familiar feeling in the pit of their stomachs: their team looked good — great at times — in the first half of the season, but have since started their trademark second-half-of-the-season struggles. On top of that, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil appear to be dragging their feet in contract negotiations. It will be an anxious match for Gunners fans, players, coaches and administration.

Swansea did finally get a win in their last Premier League match, beating Crystal Palace 2-1 on the road. That leaves them tied on points with 18th-place Sunderland, but trailing due to goal difference. The Swans only trail 17th-place Crystal Palace by a one point.

All that being said, Swansea are having an abysmal 2016-17 Premier League season. Bob Bradley was brought in during the first half of the season to try to turn things around, but was let go after less than three months, and only 11 league matches, in charge. New manager Paul Clement did win his first match at the helm — the Crystal Palace match mentioned above — but has a long and dangerous road ahead as he tries to guide the Swans out of the relegation zone by the end of the season.

Recap

Swansea started this game excellently, dominating possession and forcing the Gunners into mistakes. They went close through Kyle Naughton, who forced a good save from Petr Cech, before Gylfi Sigurdsson missed with a powerful effort from the top of the box.

Arsenal came back into the game after the 20 minute mark, slowly taking control of possession and beginning to create chances. They broke the deadlock in the 37th minute when Olivier Giroud converted from close range. There was still time in the half for Swansea to pressure Arsenal — Ki Sung-yueng appeared to be fouled in the area but was shown a yellow for diving — but the Gunners maintained their advantage heading into the break.

Arsenal started the second half much quicker than the first, pinning Swansea in their own defensive third before eventually doubling the lead in the 53rd minute. Alex Iwobi’s low shoot took a huge deflection and looped over Lukas Fabianski into the net. Iwobi forced another own goal a little over 10 minutes later, his low drive turned in inadvertently by Kyle Naughton.

Highlights

The win moves Arsenal back into the top four, two points ahead of Manchester City, who play Everton on Sunday, and above Liverpool on goal difference. The Reds face Manchester United at Old Trafford Sunday.

Next: Premier League team of the half-season

Swansea drop to the bottom of the table after Hull’s home win against Bournemouth. Not an ideal start for Paul Clement, but there were a few encouraging signs in the way the Swans started the match.