Arsenal got their Barclays Premier
League campaign up and running with a narrow 1-0 win over gallant Swansea at
Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners were in need of a response
following their 8-2 humiliation at Manchester United before the international
break.
However, for long periods the Swans -
coached by assistants Colin Pascoe and Alan Curtis as manager Brendan Rodgers
missed the game following the death of his father - more than matched Arsene
Wenger's men, who included all five deadline signings in the squad.
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| Arshavin Scores the Only goal of the match. A huge mistake from Swansea Keeper |
However, a mistake by Swansea keeper
Michel Vorm, when his roll-out had hit defender Angel Rangel, just before
half-time gifted a goal to Andrey Arshavin, which proved enough for the
Gunners' first league win.
Arsenal had started brightly, with
former Cardiff youngster Aaron Ramsey blasting over as Mikel Arteta
orchestrated midfield on his debut.
It was, though, Swansea who almost
snatched a shock lead on seven minutes.
The ball was swung in from the right and
Danny Graham got in front of new arrival Per Mertesacker, but despite being
wrong-footed Wojciech Szczesny made an acrobatic save to claw the striker's
close-range effort off the line.
Arsenal were soon back on the offensive,
and a quick break saw Arshavin release Theo Walcott. The England man slipped
his shot under the advancing keeper, but Vorm had got just enough on the ball
to slow it down as Steven Caulker, on loan from Tottenham, recovered to hack
clear from in front of his own net.
Swansea were forced to defend deeper and
deeper as Arsenal pressed for an opening goal.
A neat exchange between Robin van Persie
and Emmanuel Frimpong, back from suspension, opened up space at the edge of the
area, but the young midfielder dragged his shot wide.
Swansea, though, slowly grew in
confidence and looked more comfortable on the ball, while Scott Sinclair
provided a lively outlet on the left.
On 35 minutes, full-back Neil Taylor got
away down the left and sent over a dangerous cross which flew right through the
Arsenal six-yard area.
Arsenal went ahead five minutes from the
break following a slice of good fortune.
Vorm tried a quick roll out on the right
of the area, only to hit the heels of defender Rangel which left Arshavin to
gratefully stroke the loose ball into the empty net from a tight angle.
Swansea made a strong start to the
second half, when Walcott was cautioned for clattering into Taylor, the England
striker protesting assistant referee Simon Bennett had missed a clear tug on him.
After 53 minutes, Laurent Koscielny
followed into Stuart Attwell's notebook after scything down the lively Sinclair
20 yards out.
The former Chelsea man took the
free-kick himself and clipped the ball against the top of crossbar.
At the other end, captain Robin van
Persie, who was in top form for Holland during the international break,
shrugged off two defenders before bursting into the centre of the Swansea area
and was unfortunate to see his curling shot hit the outside of the right-hand
post.
The Dutch forward then blasted over the
bar having been set up at the edge of the box by Ramsey.
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| Arsenal Debutant Mikel Arteta during the match |
Arsenal slowly started to build a period
of sustained pressure without really stretching the Swansea backline.
Bacary Sagna's deep cross flew through
the penalty area and just eluded van Persie at the far post.
Marouane Chamakh replaced van Persie for
the closing 10 minutes and the Morocco striker almost had an instant impact
when nodding a close-range header goalwards from Kieran Gibbs' left-wing cross.
Swansea, however, battled to the end and
forced Arsenal back into some desperate defending as they forced a couple of
corners during stoppage time as Graham blazed over from close range.
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