After a tight first half the away side showed
their class in the second with Serge Gnabry and
Aaron Ramsey producing top finishes, while
Ben Davies' goal proved just a consolation
Aaron Ramsey scored his eighth goal of the
season as Arsenal moved to the top of the
Premier League table with a 2-1 win at
Swansea City.
Ramsey's hot streak of form – which has seen
him score five goals in his last four matches –
continued in his native Wales as Arsene
Wenger's men won their fifth Premier League
game in a row.
After an uninspiring first half, Ramsey set up
German youngster Serge Gnabry for the game's
first goal in the 58th minute.
And the former Cardiff City midfielder
produced a composed finish himself just a few
moments later as Arsenal recorded their eighth
Premier League away win in succession.
With a lengthy injury list, Arsenal – who are
missing the likes of Santi Cazorla, Theo
Walcott, Lukas Podolski and Alex Oxlade-
Chamberlain – made nine changes from the
side that beat West Brom on penalties in the
League Cup on Wednesday, retaining only
German pair Gnabry and Per Mertesacker.
Swansea saw their defence of the League Cup
end at Birmingham City in midweek, and they
kept just four players in their team, recalling
Spanish star Michu, although they were
without injured defensive pair Ashley Williams
and Angel Rangel (both ankle).
Jonathan De Guzman and Jonjo Shelvey both
fired over in the early stages for the hosts
while Ramsey shot wide from distance, but
despite both sides enjoying good spells of
possession, they failed to penetrate in a dull
first half that saw neither produce a shot on
target.
Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was
almost caught out after a heavy touch played
in Michu, but an offside flag avoided further
embarrassment for the Polish goalkeeper,
while a De Guzman free-kick was blasted over
in an effort that summed up the first 45
minutes.
The visitors should have scored in first-half
stoppage time though, with an excellent Gnabry
run finishing with Olivier Giroud, but the
Frenchman, who had gone down with an ankle
injury a few moments earlier, dragged his
effort wide.
The second half started slowly, with Szczesny
forced to charge off his line to deny Michu,
but Arsenal won the game thanks to four
minutes of brilliance.
The lively Gnabry opened the scoring just short
of the hour, making the most of a neat Ramsey
flick to slot a cool finish beyond Swansea
goalkeeper Michel Vorm and into the bottom
corner.
Mesut Ozil nearly doubled Arsenal's lead less
than a minute later but saw his near-post
effort saved by Vorm, before a counter-attack
that ended with Ramsey saw the Welshman
maintain his scoring run.
An excellent team move that also involved Jack
Wilshere and Giroud saw the latter cut back
for Ramsey, and the goalscorer took a touch
before smashing an effort into the top corner
to delight the travelling fans.
Nathan Dyer forced Szczesny into a terrific
save as Swansea pressed for a goal and
defender Ben Davies gave them a lifeline with
eight minutes to play.
The left-back ran forward and played in
substitute Wilfried Bony, and Davies followed
his run, collecting Bony's lobbed pass and
finishing beyond Szczesny.
It was a terrific goal but time ran out for
Swansea, as Arsenal won again ahead of a
mouth-watering UEFA Champions League clash
against Rafael Benitez's Napoli on Tuesday.
Source: goal.com
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