Arsenal 3 Swansea 2 analysis: Overconfident Gunners make hard work of win but Theo Walcott ends fears of slump

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James Benge15 October 2016

Arsenal extended their Premier League winning streak to six straight matches with a 3-2 victory over Swansea yet there was plenty of cause for concern at the Emirates today.

A brace from Theo Walcott and a goal for Mesut Ozil on his 28th birthday were enough to overcome strikes from Gylfi Sigurdsson and Borja Baston, with Granit Xhaka’s red card on 70 minutes making for a nervous finale for Arsenal.

Their win drew them level with Manchester City at the top of the table but Arsene Wenger may well not be in a celebratory mood after his side kept allowing Swansea back into a contest that seemed theirs for the taking.

Standard Sport’s James Benge examines the key talking points from their Emirates

Overconfident Arsenal are their own worst enemies

Borja Baston celebrates Swansea's second goal 
Julian Finney/Getty Images

For 39 minutes Arsenal once more produced some of their very best free-flowing football. Swansea certainly knew how good their hosts were as they were torn apart almost at will but at times you sensed Wenger’s side were also rather impressed with themselves.

That is perhaps the best explanation for some of their more self-indulgent moments, their tendency to try to walk the ball into the net and their willingness to dwell in possession on the edge of their own box. Gylfi Sigurdsson punished them for that and turned what should have been a comfortable end to the half into the all too familiar nervy rearguard.

If the ugly win at Burnley had the mark of champions to it their recurrence of the habit of handing the opposition a lifeline is all too redolent of the same old Arsenal.

Xhaka's momentum checked with red card

This was the first match in some time where Granit Xhaka had been preferred to Francis Coquelin rather than played by default and he now faces an extended spell on the sidelines after a calamitous red card just as Arsenal were looking to preserve a 3-2 lead.

It was as breathtakingly foolish as the dawdling in possession that handed Siguardsson Swansea’s first goal. And it was not the first time Xhaka has suffered a rush of blood to the head in what was his eighth red card in the last three seasons.

One would hope that the same characteristics that first attracted Wenger to Xhaka mean the midfielder will not only avoid similar mistakes in the future but will emerge stronger from his chastening experience.

Mustafi and Koscielny a crucial last line for the Gunners

Arsenal’s centre-back pair really should have been on time and a half this afternoon such was the limited support they were provided by their midfield shield, and at times Nacho Monreal.

Despite ending a run of three league games without conceding a goal Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny were excellent in and out of possession, diving in to steal possession or to turn a goalscoring chance into a corner. They may just have saved Arsenal today.

Poacher Walcott sets England woes aside

Walcott celebrates Arsenal's opener
John Sibley/Reuters

After two poor performances on international duty today was a big match for Theo Walcott, who had to prove he would not slip back into the same narrative that has defined his past few seasons, a bright start trickling away into disappointment and rancour.

He certainly did that even if his two goals came from a combined distance of about six yards. They may not have been the most glamorous of finishes but they will do quite nicely for Walcott, now Arsenal’s top scorer this season with seven.

Monreal a cause for concern in Arsenal’s defence

Mr Reliable over the last two seasons it seems that opponents may now have decided that Nacho Monreal is Arsenal’s defensive weak link. Certainly Modou Barrow, hardly the most fearsome winger in the top flight, enjoyed an afternoon to remember against the Spaniard.

At least partly that may have been that neither Alex Iwobi nor Mesut Ozil offered much protection to Monreal but this was not the first game this season where the 30-year-old has seemed off the pace. He still remains comfortably in credit with Wenger but the Spaniard now has a point to prove in the coming weeks.

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