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Preview: Swansea v Arsenal, team news, line-up & prediction

By on January 13, 2017

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Arsenal will be desperate to get our Premier League title challenge back on track when we take on Swansea at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

We were looking good heading in to December but consecutive away defeats to Everton and Manchester City saw us fall well off the pace and the 3-3 draw at Bournemouth earlier this month has left us outside the top four. We’re currently eight points adrift of Chelsea but the good news is that we can go level on points with second-placed Liverpool with a win tomorrow and they face a tough trip to Manchester United on Sunday so at least one of our nearest rivals will drop points.

There’s also been some sensational news come out of Stamford Bridge tonight with the newspapers reporting that Diego Costa has been left out of the Chelsea squad for tomorrow’s trip to Leicester following a furious bust-up with Antonio Conte. Apparently the striker hasn’t trained for three days and has had his head turned by a huge offer from China so it looks like the run-away leaders have some serious issues to deal with and it can only be a good thing for Arsenal and the title race.

Anyway, back to Swansea and they have suffered a poor season so far as they currently sit second from bottom in the table so ordinarily we should be confident of picking up the three points. However, once again we’re up against a new boss with Paul Clement looking to impress on his first home game since taking over at the Liberty so no doubt they’ll have the game of their lives against us.

Betting Tips

It’s always difficult to predict Premier League games and I haven’t had much luck lately as my tips have cost me a fortune. If you’ve been backing them, then you might as well have activated your Fruity King bonus code and tried your luck at an online casino as I’ve been useless with my tips lately. However, this is one match I fancy Arsenal to win, and win well. Swansea have been woeful this season while our away form has actually been very good so I’d back the boys to win 2-0 at odds of 6/1. Throw in Giroud as first scorer to get even more value at 14/1.

Team News

Bellerin has been ruled out after failing to recover from an ankle injury so he joins Cazorla, Mertesacker and Walcott on the sidelines.

Ozil is back after overcoming a bout of flu that’s kept him out of the last three games while Sanchez, Cech and Koscielny will be recalled after being rested for the win over Preston last weekend.

Coquelin was back on the training pitches at London Colney today after making a swift recovery from a hamstring injury but this game will come too soon.

As for Swansea, they’ll be without new signing Luciano Narsingh due to a calf injury while Neil Taylor is out with a fractured cheekbone.

Preferred Line-Up

With Bellerin out I think Gabriel should start at right-back while Giroud deserves to keep his place up front after scoring some important goals lately. This would be my team:

Prediction

We actually have a very good recent record at Swansea having won three of our last four games at the Liberty and let’s be honest, even with a new manager the Swans have been woeful at times this season. Our big guns should be refreshed so hopefully we see the boys come flying out the blocks as we’ve started games poorly of late.

As long as we remain focussed our superior quality should ensure we secure the three points. I’m backing the boys to win this 2-0. Swansea 0-2 Arsenal