Arsenal 3 Swansea City 2: Granit Xhaka sent off but Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil goals see Gunners over the line

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James Olley15 October 2016

Theo Walcott scored twice as ten-man Arsenal edged a pulsating game at Emirates Stadium with a 3-2 victory over Swansea City which condemned Bob Bradley to defeat in his first game in charge.

The Gunners registered their six consecutive Premier League win as Walcott took his personal tally to six goals in his last five matches to give Arsenal a 2-0 lead.

Gylfi Sigurdsson pulled one back prior to the break before Mesut Ozil’s sumptuous volley extended their lead. Substitute Gonzalez Borja Baston struck for Swansea shortly before Granit Xhaka was sent off for a bad tackle on Modou Barrow but Arsenal held on to move level on points with leaders Manchester City.

Goalkeeper Petr Cech made his 50th Arsenal appearance while Alexis Sanchez started despite a near-15,000-mile round trip to play twice for Chile during the international break and the home side started on the front foot from the outset.

Swansea were pushed back into defending on the edge of their own box – at times desperately – as the Gunners poured forward in search of a fast start.

Shkodran Mustafi hit the top of the crossbar with a 12th minute header, climbing above Jordi Amat to meet Mesut Ozil’s corner before Granit Xhaka had a shot blocked on the edge of the box.

The visitors only offered a sporadic threat at the other end, although Leroy Fer should have done better when Modou Barrow and Kyle Naughton combined well to find the Dutchman on the edge of the box but he sent a right-foot shot over the bar from just inside the box.

Sanchez’s movement was causing Swansea problems throughout and another fast breakaway gave Arsenal the lead. Hector Bellerin raced down the right to continue a flowing move by heading the ball dangerously across goal. Amat tried to control the ball rather than clear it, allowing Walcott to nip in and stab home the opener past former Gunner Lukasz Fabianski.

Walcott doubled Arsenal’s advantage six minutes later as Jack Cork failed to meet Santi Cazorla’s corner, resulting in the ball ricocheting off Sigurdsson and falling to Walcott inside the six yard box and the England international took a touch before firing past Fabianski.

Arsenal appeared comfortable but complacency crept into their performance and a mistake from Xhaka gave Swansea a lifeline seven minutes before the interval. The Switzerland midfielder took an unnecessary risk on the edge of his own box and in trying to beat Sigurdsson he merely gifted the ball to him. Sigurdsson still had plenty to do but he curled a fine shot past Cech to halve the deficit.

Amat could have equalised on the stroke of half-time when he found himself free in the box but could only meet Sigurdsson’s free-kick with a tame header which forced Cech into merely a routine save.

Arsenal began the second half with the same intensity as the first and Ozil extended their lead 12 minutes after the restart. Sanchez picked the ball up in a central position 30 yards from goal and he chipped a ball high to the left which Ozil met with a first-time left-foot volley which thundered past Fabianski high into the roof of the net.

Yet in a carbon copy of the first half, Arsenal continued to make individual errors at the back prompting moments of sudden panic and Swansea forged a route back into the game in the 66th minute.

Barrow beat Monreal and made inroads down the Swansea right. He got to the byline and steered a cross to substitute Baston, who turned the ball past Cech.

Arsenal’s grip on the game slipped further when Xhaka was dismissed four minutes later. Barrow’s pace was causing the Gunners all sorts of problems and just as he looked set to race free on the counter-attack, Xhaka scythed him down on the halfway line.

The location of the challenge suggested a yellow card but referee Jon Moss felt the cynical and aggressive nature of the tackle warranted a straight red card.

The home fans vented their fury at Moss and amid the hostility, Swansea almost equalised when Barrow was unmarked 10 yards out but he could only head straight at Cech.

Barrow continued to wreak havoc in his role as tormentor-in-chief and another penetrating run ended with a square ball to Sigurdsson but he missed another glorious chance, firing over from 16 yards out.

Swansea poured forward in search of an equaliser, leaving them vulnerable to a counter-attack and Walcott thought he’d won it when curling a shot from the edge of the box but his effort hit the post and somehow stayed out.

Fer and Sigurdsson both had headers saved by Cech in a frantic finale before Walcott missed an easy chance to wrap up his hat-trick, hitting the bar from 12 yards out.

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