Arsenal endured a bitter-sweet experience in the Champions League on Wednesday, defeating Bayern Munich in the second leg of their last-16 clash but losing the tie overall. Their powers of recovery, mental as well as physical, were tested to the limit back in the league and they emerged unscathed. Just.
Initially unconvincing against Swansea at the Liberty Stadium Arsenal were indebted to late goals from Nacho Monreal, his first for the club, and Gervinho to secure victory. It was a crucial win, helping them to close the gap on the top-four clubs and perhaps put them back in contention for another campaign in the Champions League.
Arsène Wenger is nothing but stubborn. Here he reaffirmed his decisions to drop Thomas Vermaelen, his captain, and Wojciech Szczesny, his goalkeeper, for the fruitless trip to Bayern Munich. Szczesny did not even travel to Germany, with Wenger citing his "mental tiredness," while Vermaelen was a non-playing substitute in the match.
Neither player started at the Liberty, although at least Szczesny this time warmed the bench alongside Vermaelen. Mikel Arteta again took the captain's armband as he had done in Munich, but it would need inspirational displays from the Spaniard – and his underachieving colleagues – to resurrect Arsenal's season. At kick-off they stood five points adrift of qualifying for the Champions League and if that was the case at the end of the season it would be an unprecedented failure for Wenger.
Swansea, of course, have already booked their continental ticket for next season, courtesy of the 5-0 drubbing of Bradford City in the Capital One Cup final that secured their berth in the Europa League. The sweet-flowing football that they exhibited at Wembley was quickly on show again, but it was Arsenal who carved out the first opportunity of note. Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain cut in from the left flank and cruelly exposed Angel Rangel's lack of positioning and pace. He also spotted that Michel Vorm, the Swansea goalkeeper, was off his line and curled over a delightful effort that clipped the top of the crossbar.A touch of good fortune for the home side, perhaps, but they responded, as always, with a fluidity and belief that has become their trademark. Michu should have done better, when released by a perfect pass from Ki Sung-Yueng, but scuffed his shot as Laurent Koscielny challenged at the last moment. As Arsenal attempted similar pass-and-go tactics, which the greasy surface enhanced rather than hindered, Swansea were forced to backtrack on numerous occasions. Still, Michu had another opportunity to open the scoring, after a scramble in the Arsenal area, but drove wide with Lukasz Fabianski, Szczesny's stand-in, unprotected.
With both defences appearing solid, long-distance pot-shots were the best option. Otherwise, there seemed to be no way through. Twice Arsenal had a go and twice they failed. But only just. Santi Cazorla had the first go, but Vorm comfortably saved his swirling effort; then Oxlade-Chamberlain stepped up to the plate with a 30-yard effort that Vorm got nowhere near as it skimmed off the crossbar and behind to safety.
Arsenal picked up the pace in the second half, pushing Swansea further into retreat and threatening to at last penetrate the home back-four rather than rely on speculative shooting. It worked for a while, with Swansea hardly able to emerge from their shell, and Cazorla wriggled his way through only to drive straight at Vorm.
Abou Diaby was becoming menacing on his frequent runs from deep, with the Swansea defenders unable to pick him up, but he took too long to make up his mind after performing a bewildering series of shimmies on the edge of the area. Time and again he fashioned to shoot and time and again he declined. In the end one touch too many took the ball embarrassingly out of play.
Swansea, for once, did break free of the shackles but the move concluded in a disappointing manner when Pablo Hernández shot wastefully wide. The Swansea manager Michael Laudrup had seen enough and replaced Ki with Wayne Routledge in the hope that he could provide better service for Michu.
Wenger brought on Gervinho and Aaron Ramsey and three minutes later Arsenal went ahead. Cazorla's driven cross was cleared only as far Monreal and the Spanish left-back, signed for £9 million from Malaga on transfer deadline day in January, sent a left-footed shot past the unsighted Vorm. Gervinho added a second goal from close range in stoppage time. And Arsenal are back on track for the Champions League.
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