By Bulldog Drummond
The early team news
Coquelin and Bellerin are still about a week away from returning, Theo is maybe two weeks from returning. Gibbs and Mert are also out as well, obviously, as are Santi Cazorla and Mohamed Elneny.
But coming back (and I would have thought absolutely certain to play) are Mesut Ozil, Petr Cech, Laurent Koscielny and Alexis Sanchez. The only question is whether Giroud is kept in reserve for a big finish – in which case we could see Alexis start at centre forward and then go to the wing for the last 20 as Giroud forces Swansea into a total rethink.
Here’s the physioroom injury table
| Club | Injuries | Latest | |
| 1 | Watford | 11 | C Cathcart |
| 2 | Hull City | 10 | A McGregor |
| 2 | Sunderland | 10 | W Khazri |
| 4 | Crystal Palace | 8 | W Hennessey |
| 5 | Arsenal | 7 | H Bellerin |
| 5 | Everton | 7 | A Lennon |
| 5 | Southampton | 7 | S Davis |
| 8 | West Ham United | 6 | M Antonio |
| 8 | Burnley | 6 | A Barnes |
| 10 | Stoke City | 5 | B Krkic |
| 10 | Liverpool | 5 | J Henderson |
| 10 | Manchester City | 5 | K de Bruyne |
| 13 | Middlesbrough | 4 | G Ramirez |
| 13 | Swansea City | 4 | L Narsingh |
And the list of Arsenal players with estimated return dates
| Player | Injury | Return date | |
| H Bellerin | Ankle Injury | January 22, 2017 | |
| F Coquelin | Hamstring Injury | January 22, 2017 | |
| K Gibbs | Knee Injury | January 22, 2017 | |
| T Walcott | Calf Strain | January 31, 2017 | |
| M Debuchy | Hamstring Injury | January 31, 2017 | |
| P Mertesacker | Knee Injury | January 31, 2017 | |
| S Cazorla | Plantaris Injury | March 18, 2017 |
Looking forward to the game, this is one of those occasions where the away team has a far stronger record than the home team.
Here are the home and away tables
This is where it starts to look particularly positive in terms of Arsenal…
| Home | Away | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pt | |||||
| 4 | Manchester City | 20 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 22 | 12 | +19 | 42 | |||
| 5 | Arsenal | 20 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 23 | 12 | +22 | 41 | |||
| 6 | Manchester United | 20 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 11 | +12 | 39 | |||
| 18 | Sunderland | 20 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 20 | -18 | 15 | |||
| 19 | Swansea City | 20 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 14 | 23 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 22 | -22 | 15 | |||
| 20 | Hull City | 20 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 24 | -27 | 13 | |||
Swansea’s recent form is two wins, in between which were four defeats. Arsenal’s is three wins, one draw and two defeats. But perhaps more to the point Arsenal’s away form (five wins, three draws and two defeats) is far better than Swansea’s home form (two wins, two draws, six defeats). The goal difference is quite solidly in Arsenal’s favour as well: +11 for Arsenal away, -9 for Swansea at home.
Swansea’s recent poor run in the league came to an end in the last match with a victory over Fat Sam and Co, but prior to that things were not so good with four straight defeats. Points and position are shown for after the result.
In the analysis charts, Arsenal away from home are the top scorers of goals from open play (19) while Swansea at home are second in the list of teams scoring from set pieces with seven. Only West Brom beat them with eight set piece goals this season at home.
Swansea seem to have two particular weaknesses according to the stats – defending counter attacks and defending against through balls. With Ozil back in the team, this is Arsenal’s master tactic and so certainly should see us travelling in the right direction.
Across the years, from Swansea’s point of view…
Across the Premier League years Swansea’s record against Arsenal is three wins and four defeats
| 16 Mar 2013 | Swansea City v Arsenal | L | 0-2 | Premier League |
| 28 Sep 2013 | Swansea City v Arsenal | L | 1-2 | Premier League |
| 25 Mar 2014 | Arsenal v Swansea City | D | 2-2 | Premier League |
| 09 Nov 2014 | Swansea City v Arsenal | W | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 11 May 2015 | Arsenal v Swansea City | W | 0-1 | Premier League |
| 31 Oct 2015 | Swansea City v Arsenal | L | 0-3 | Premier League |
| 02 Mar 2016 | Arsenal v Swansea City | W | 1-2 | Premier League |
| 15 Oct 2016 | Arsenal v Swansea City | L | 3-2 | Premier League |
That’s about as good as it gets for Swansea, especially when we move onto…
Swansea’s recent form
| Date | Opposition | Venue | Result | Pos | Pts | |
| 16 | 14.12.2016 | West Bromwich Albion | away | L1-3 | 18 | 12 |
| 17 | 17.12.2016 | Middlesbrough | away | L0-3 | 19 | 12 |
| 18 | 26.12.2016 | West Ham United | home | L1-4 | 19 | 12 |
| 19 | 31.12.2016 | Bournemouth | home | L0-3 | 20 | 12 |
| 20 | 03.01.2017 | Crystal Palace | away | W2-1 | 19 | 15 |
Arsenal’s last five games haven’t been the highlight of the season either, but three unbeaten puts us back on form after the two away defeats before Christmas.
| Date | Oppositioin | Venue | Result | Pos | Pts | |
| 16 | 13.12.2016 | Everton | away | L1-2 | 2 | 34 |
| 17 | 18.12.2016 | Manchester City | away | L1-2 | 4 | 34 |
| 18 | 26.12.2016 | West Bromwich Albion | home | W1-0 | 4 | 37 |
| 19 | 01.01.2017 | Crystal Palace | home | W2-0 | 3 | 40 |
| 20 | 03.01.2017 | Bournemouth | away | D3-3 | 4 | 41 |
In the next piece we’ll look at the teams.
Untold Arsenal and the Arsenal History Society… recent stories
Recent transfers, total cost of squad, and salaries against position in the league
The funniest (and also the most embarassing) transfer story this January
Arsenal: Too dearly loved to be forgotten.
Latest addition to the Arsenal History Society website:
The Index of major articles about Arsenal players: A to K L to Z
Arsenal in the 30s – Feb 1937: Seven in the cup, and all to play for in the league
Either Arsenal.com knows something, the spuds game is cancelled or they just do not think spuds will win at 12.30 v West Brom.
See, they state:
” Fifth place on Friday could feasibly be second place by Monday.”
Let’s hope it’s the last one.
And we have to WIN of course.
Hoping for a win despite a mediocre recent record against them.
But, can see us conceding a pen…..again. We have now conceded six. Only Hull have conceded more.From what I can see, only two EPL clubs have conceded ten pens since 2003, with our away games against Chelsea and the Spuds, and the refs we know we are going to get at those venues, think our vicious cheating players could be heading into record territory in terms of penalties conceded this season.
I don’t know where the medja heard about it, but apparently Santi has needed some more surgery. Which puts his return data back some more.
Bummer! He is such a nice player to watch.
Gord:
Sure looks like Santi is not going to play a big part at Arsenal again. Hope we can find a real suitable replacement.
His play was a joy to watch and i hope we do get to see him again though.