Arsenal – Swansea City Preview

So here it is, the start of the new season. And unlike the rest of you, I can say that since I really haven’t watched a game yet which is an unexpected nice feeling. Yes, we all know the season really three weeks in and we have only garnered one point and basically made a bile of manure out of the summer and anything else you can think of, but we need to get on with it. Thankfully we have a brand new Premier League club coming to the Emirates, a club who should be easy to get three points off of, just like Newcastle and West Brom at home last season!
Oh wait….

So who is Swansea City? To be honest, I am like most of you in that I know very little about them. So I went searching online to find some information that I could relay to you all, and found a great history lesson on Swansea City FC right here. It really is an interesting read, and gives great insight into their club. Swansea City is the first non-English club to play in the Barclay’s Premier League which was formed in 1992 (They played in the Old First Division in years past), and there were many people who were unhappy about a Welsh club being allowed to play in the English league. I have zero problem with this and have been hoping for a few years that Cardiff City would break into the league, but never figured Swansea would be the Welsh club making it.

Swansea City did quite well last year in the Championship, and it was largely due to their home record at the beautifully name ‘Liberty Stadium’ where they won 15 of 23 fixtures, losing only three times. They ended the season in third place and defeated Nottingham Forest in the playoffs in two terrific games, and then defeated Reading in the final to secure their promotion. Over the summer Swansea lost their keeper Dutchman Dorus de Vries to Wolves on a free but replaced him with fellow countryman Michel Vorm, who is a better keeper, if marginally. Other notables are Wayne Routledge coming from Newcastle who will offer pace on the flank, journeyman striker Leroy Lita who at 26 years of age has already played for five clubs across England, and have taken defender Steven Caulker of Tottenham on loan. On transfer deadline day they signed two defenders Darnel Situ, and Rafik Halliche, both who are still not cleared to play for Swansea, which will take a toll on their squad if they must wait until January to be eligible.

The start of the season for Swansea has been about what you might expect of the final club to achieve promotion. They started the season at Manchester City and held them scoreless for two thirds of the game, where the introduction of Aguero turned the game into a route of 4-0. Their second game was home to Wigan and ended in a drab scoreless draw. A shocking and moral-killing loss in the Carling Cup at the hands of League Two Shrewebury Town F.C was then followed by another home draw to Sunderland. Swansea is not like your typical newly promoted club to the EPL, as in they attempt to play ‘the right way’ and play possession football. In their three premiership games they have have possession 61% of their games, and average pass success rate of 83%, with 84% of them  being a short pass, but perhaps more tellingly, have only completed three through balls. Where they have faltered, statistically, is in the air where they have only won 35% of the aerial duals. The stats are all in small sample size, but shows that they seem to be Arsenal-lite. They pass a lot, but have struggled to create many chances, and have yet to record their first ever Premier League goal.

Their attacking players to watch are mainly Nathan Dyer coming from the right flank with powerful runs and highly-rated youngster Scott Sinclair cutting in from the left. Wayne Routledge plays centrally behind Danny Graham and is a seasoned veteran with plenty of premiership experience. Their fullback like to attack, but shouldn’t pose too much problems for Arsenal. The two substitutes that could cause trouble would be Stephen Dobbie and Leroy Lita. Swansea has been playing the now common 4-2-3-1, and the assumed lineup from me is:

Vorm, Rangel, Williams, Caulker, Taylor, Agustien, Britton, Dyer, Routledge, Sinclair, Graham

Arsenal come into this game needing a win badly. The team news is positive (relatively)  thankfully, as Gibbs and Walcott and Frimpong are all in good shape and likely to start. Diaby and Squillaci are still both alive in case you were worried, but both injured, with Vermaelen and Wilshere long term injuries. Tomas Rosicky came back from international duty with a knock on his knee, and Gervinho, Song and Jenkinson are all sitting this one out with suspensions. Santos has not played since the Copa America and will likely start on the bench. Arsenal are having trouble ensuring Park’s work permit so it’s unsure if he will be eligible to play tomorrow. So it means we will likely see Mertesacker and Arteta as the only two new signings starting, which I think is a good thing in order to blend them in slowly and have some cohesion to start the game.

Szczesny

Sagna   Mertesacker  Koscielny   Gibbs

Frimpong   Ramsey

Walcott            Arteta         Arshavin

Van Persie

Bench: Flaps, Santos, Djourou, Benayoun, Rosicky, Ox, Chamakh

You might change the bench a bit, but I think we can all agree that this is a much better looking lineup than the squad that was sent to the gauntlet to be massacred against Manchester United. Experience has been added, and a couple options on the bench which will only be better next week when Song and Gervinho can play again. Although I do think we should start taking bets on who will get sent off each and every game and with Frimpong in the lineup, it’s hard to bet against him. There is no reason not to win this game, and hopefully we don’t surrender Swansea’s first goal in the EPL. My prediction is a comfortable 3-0 win for Arsenal.

The game begins 10am EST/7am PST in North America. I have no idea what channels it will be on, check the comments for more info there. I haven’t seen the Arsenal play since May, and I am dying to get my fix. I literally cannot wait for this game. Let’s get behind the boys, and start the healing of a piss poor 2011!

COME ON YOU ARSENAL!!

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Category: Arsenal News