Swansea vs Arsenal Preview, Team News, Likely Line-Ups, Key Man & Predicted Score

Arsenal travel to Wales on Saturday night to take on Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium looking to cement their place at the top of the Premier League. 

The Gunners are the early pace-setters after climbing to the summit with a 3-1 win over Stoke last weekend and Arsene Wenger will hope to continue the momentum with another three points on Saturday.

We edged into the fourth round of the Capital One Cup on Wednesday night after a penalty shoot-out win over West Brom to continue our excellent recent run.

We have won every game since losing to Aston Villa on the opening day of the season and another three points this weekend will ensure we sit top of the table and be full of confidence heading into Tuesday’s crunch Champions League clash with Napoli at the Emirates.

The hosts slumped to a 3-1 defeat to Birmingham in midweek but were on a decent run before that which included a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace last weekend. Michu has found his goal-scoring touch at just the wrong time and we know how good a finisher he can be after he bagged a late brace to beat us 2-0 at the Emirates last season.

Team News

Arsene Wenger revealed at his press conference on Friday that midfielder Mathieu Flamini and Aaron Ramsey are both doubts for the game. Flamini was ruled out of the midweek Cup game with a shoulder injury while Ramsey picked up a thigh strain in training, but the boss is hopeful both will be passed fit.

Theo Walcott has been ruled out for up to five weeks after having an operation on an abdominal strain so Serge Ganbry is likely to start on the right.

A number of first team players will be recalled after being rested against WBA so the likes of Szczesny, Sagna, Koscielny, Gibbs, Wilshere, Ozil and Giroud all come back into the team.

Tomas Rosicky is due back in training on Monday but this game comes too soon for him so he remains out along with Santi Cazorla, Abou Diaby, Lukas Podolski, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Yaya Sanogo.

Swansea are expected to be without key defender Ashley Williams with the Welshman struggling to overcome an ankle problem.  Midfielder Pablo Hernandez is certain to miss the game with a hamstring injury.

Likely Line-Ups

Key Man

Mathieu Flamini: It would be too obvious to say someone like Mesut Ozil so I’ve gone with Flamini as he has a huge job in trying to keep Michu quiet. The Spaniard likes to drop into the little holes and will cause problems if he’s given space, so Flamini needs to cut him out the game and our attacking threat should be able to see us clear at the other end.

Predicted Scores

Swansea 1-2 Arsenal: This is going to be a tricky game and we know they have quality, but Arsenal are on an excellent run and are grinding out results. I can see another close away win here for the Gunners.

What would be your starting eleven and what’s your score prediction for the game? Share your thoughts below.