Swansea City vs. Arsenal Preview

Arsenal will be trying to cement their position in the top four of the Premier League when they make the trip to face Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium on January 15.

This fixture will provide the weekend’s main live top flight action and a fascinating encounter looks on the cards in what may be a straight ‘attack vs. defence’ battle.

Arsenal’s recent defeat at the hands of Fulham undoubtedly put paid to any remaining title hopes they had and the Gunners now sit a telling twelve points behind league leaders Manchester City.

Arsene Wenger will perhaps be disappointed at the fact that his side were unable to capitalise fully on a poor festive period for the Manchester clubs who both suffered two defeats, whilst Chelsea also dropped well out of contention thanks to a plethora of draws and a home loss to Aston Villa.

And now, it looks as if Arsenal are in a head to head battle with the Blues for that elusive fourth place finish and final Champions League qualifying berth.

Going into this round of fixtures, it is Andre Villas Boas’ men who hold a slender one point advantage over the Gunners and Arsenal must pick up three points at the Liberty Stadium if they are to stay on course for their newly revised target.

Arsenal face a potentially tricky task at home to Leeds United in the F.A Cup prior to this fixture and Thierry Henry’s performance in that game could well decide whether the returning Frenchman makes the line-up for this match alongside star man Robin Van Persie.

Arsene Wenger may need to collate all the firepower he can muster for this clash against the Swans who have an excellent home record having only lost once at the Liberty Stadium so far this season.

Brendan Rogers’ men have already earned a reputation for being extremely hard to beat at home and that comes as no surprise considering that they have only conceded four goals to date on their own patch.

Arsenal haven’t exactly struggled to find the net on their travels having bagged an average of two goals per game on the road – however they have lost five of their ten matches so far away from the Emirates in the Premier League.

Their recent defeat to a fairly average Fulham outfit at Craven Cottage suggested that Wenger still has lots of work to do and despite having Van Persie and Henry in their forward ranks; an away win in this fixture can hardly be predicted with much confidence.

If Swansea can set their stall out as they have done for the majority of the campaign, Messrs Van Persie, Henry and co could well be leaving Wales frustrated and further off the pace at the top of the table.

The 14/5 on offer for a draw looks remarkable value – and whilst it can always be difficult to throw weight behind a stalemate, a point apiece looks the obvious way to go in this one.

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08/01/2012     © Frixo 2024