Swansea vs. Arsenal

2-0, Premier League, Liberty Stadium, 2013-03-16
Monreal 74,
Gervinho 91

It was vital for us to win this game (as with all remaining games) if we are to maintain any hope of reaching the fourth spot, which makes the relief of these three points quite immense. It looked as though this would turn out to be one of those games where we just couldn't seem to get the ball into the back of the net, but luckily that was not the case!

Five minutes into the game Oxlade-Chamberlain made a brilliant solo effort as he advanced into the box and unleashed a sizzling shot that, unfortunately, hit the bar. After that the game slowed down remarkably and Swansea had a chance through Michu, who fired just wide. Then Cazorla had a powerful, curling shot from outside the box saved by the Swansea 'keeper, Vorm. The last decent chance to score came when Walcott almost got a shot away as he was played in brilliantly by Cazorla, but a defender managed to disarm the Englishman before he could fire.

Right at the start of the second half Cazorla had a shot on target saved by Vorm, before we finally managed to get a shot past that 'keeper! After some chaos in the box, with approximately fifteen minutes to go, where we just couldn't seem to get the ball into the back of the net Nacho Monreal showed up and fired a bouncing shot past Vorm in the Swansea goal! Cazorla then had a shot deflected wide right before we finally sealed the game in the 91st minute. Ramsey played a decent ball to Gervinho, who managed to fire past the 'keeper and seal those vital three points!

So we are definitely still in the race for the fourth place in the league, even though we'll not only need to win all of our games but also count on our opponents dropping some more points before the end of the season.

Injury Update:
- Gibbs was moved to the bench for this game, having returned against Bayern Munich earlier this week.
- Podolski and Wilshere were both still injured and missed out on this game.
- On a different note, Diaby made it back straight into the starting IX for this game.