Although the early-season fixture list has been relatively kind, the most impressive aspect of Arsenal's good form is that it is being achieved amid an injury crisis in midfield. The absence of their best four wide players yesterday — Santi Cazorla, Theo Walcott, Lukas Podolski and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain — had again meant that 18-year-old Serge Gnabry was asked to play on the right and Jack Wilshere out of position on the left.
With Jose Canas clearly given the specific task of neutralising Mesut Özil in the hole between Arsenal's midfield and attack, Swansea were first to find their rhythm. Creating chances, however, was rather more problematic and their only clear first-half opportunity arrived as a result of a mistake in the Arsenal defence. Wojciech Szczesny had badly miss-controlled a back-pass from Ramsey on the edge of his penalty area and, under pressure from Michu, the ball ended up with Wayne Routledge whose cross in front of an empty goal squirmed agonisingly wide.
Arsenal were largely reduced to chasing the ball, with the absence of Walcott's pace especially noticeable even when they did gain possession and have the chance to inflict damage on the break. Özil was struggling to find any space, Gnabry was generally occupied with covering the runs of Swansea left back Ben Davies while Wilshere continued to look disorientated out on the left. It all added up to no meaningful service for Olivier Giroud.
Arsenal, though, were a team transformed after half-time. Özil's influence in stepping out and linking the play was encouraging the rest of the midfield to push further forward and there followed a prolonged period of possession. A wonderful move followed, ending with Wilshere feeding Giroud who, in turn, moved the ball on to Ramsey to split the defence for Gnabry.
Having earlier missed from a similar position, Gnabry drilled his low finish past Michel Vorm and inside the post. Arsenal then should have doubled their lead with the very next attack but, with Ramsey again brilliantly dissecting Swansea's defence, Özil's finish was parried to safety by Vorm.
Ramsey was now dominant and was both the architect and scorer of Arsenal's second. Having won the ball and sprayed a precise cross-field pass to Wilshere, he galloped forward to join the attack. Another excellent interchange of passing followed between Wilshere and Giroud, with Ramsey arriving in the penalty area and driving his shot into the roof of the goal.
Swansea (4-1-4-1): Vorm 6; Tiendalli 6, Chico 6, Amat 6, Ben Davies 8; Canas 7; Dyer 7, De Guzman 6, Shelvey 6 (Bony 61), Routledge 6 (Pozuelo 64); Michu 5. Subs Tremmel (g), Taylor, Britton, Vazquez, Alfei. Booked Chico, De Guzman, Canas.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Szczesny 6; Sagna 6, Koscielny 7, Mertesacker 7, Gibbs 6; Ramsey 8, Flamini 6; Gnabry 7 (Arteta 78), Özil 6 (Monreal 88), Wilshere 6 (Jenkinson 90); Giroud 7. Subs Fabianski (g), Vermaelen, Bendtner, Miyaichi. Booked Flamini, Arteta. Referee
M Clattenburg (County Durham).
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