Swansea 3 Arsenal 1: Sam Clucas double and Petr Cech howler see sorry Gunners stumble yet again

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James Benge30 January 2018

Arsenal slipped further off the pace in the battle for the Premier League’s top four as they fell to a 3-1 defeat at Swansea.

Arsene Wenger’s side had laboured for half an hour until Nacho Monreal scored his second goal in as many games to hand them a lead they would immediately fritter away as Sam Clucas brought the hosts level.

The Gunners would fall behind in embarrassing fashion as Petr Cech’s miscued clearance was tapped in by Jordan Ayew. Clucas doubled the hosts’ lead as they pounced on yet another error, earning Swansea a crucial victory to follow the three points they earned last time out against Liverpool.

Swansea repeated the trick that had brought them victory over Jurgen Klopp’s side last week, sitting deep with banks of five and four and inviting Arsenal to do their worst. Wenger’s side obliged them.

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For half an hour the visitors passed the ball sideways, simultaneously managing to look short of numbers to craft a way through the Swansea backline but flimsy enough in defence that every counter attack led to desperate defending.

Aaron Ramsey and Mohamed Elneny both made crucial interventions in the early minutes, the former Cardiff midfielder just about blocking Alfie Mawson’s close-range effort and the Egyptian making an imperious diving tackle to dispossess Clucas just inside the area.

Against the run of play Arsenal got their win as yet again Monreal came to their rescue, tapping in Mesut Ozil’s looping cross at the back post.

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Arsenal’s lead lasted mere seconds before they switched off. Ozil was outmuscled in his own half and Granit Xhaka seemed to make a burst away from the danger area. Mawson sliced through the defence with one pass and Clucas slotted past Petr Cech, whose wait for a 200th Premier League clean sheet goes on.

As Arsenal grew more desperate Wenger turned to Mkhitaryan, who replaced the solid Elneny. Within a minute the Armenian was handed an insight into just what he has let himself in for as the Gunners defence contrived to hand Swansea the lead.

Monreal put Shkodran Mustafi under too much pressure with a lazy throw-in and the German, rather than boot the ball clear, went back to Cech, who sliced his clearance straight into Ayew’s path. From eight yards out he couldn’t miss.

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Arsenal were rattled and minutes later their goalkeeper flapped a routine Ki Sung-yueng cross out for a corner. Moments later Mustafi flicked a clearing header into the path of Nathan Dyer, who should have hit the target with a left-footed shot from close range effort.

Such was Arsenal’s desperation Olivier Giroud, understood to be close to a £18million move to Chelsea, was thrown on to save Wenger one last time but his farewell was to come in ignominious fashion as he had to watch Ayew bustle in behind, squaring for Clucas to hammer home the winner.

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