Arsenal Vs Swansea City: 5 things we learned

SWANSEA, WALES – JANUARY 30: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger reacts before the Premier League match between Swansea City and Arsenal at Liberty Stadium on January 30, 2018 in Swansea, Wales. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

On Tuesday night, as the Premier League returned to the fore, Arsenal travelled to the Liberty Stadium to take on bottom-of-the-table Swansea City. Here are five things we learned from the 3-1 loss.

It’s not even surprising anymore. That is perhaps the biggest damnation that I can give of Arsenal’s insipid away performance against Swansea City on Tuesday night. They lost 3-1. In the end, it deserved to be a whole lot more.

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Here are five things we learned from the absolute debacle. I warn you, this was a very depressing piece to write.

Arsenal, Alexandre Lacazette — SWANSEA, WALES – JANUARY 30: Alexandre Lacazette of Arsenal and Federico Fernandez of Swansea City battle for possession during the Premier League match between Swansea City and Arsenal at Liberty Stadium on January 30, 2018 in Swansea, Wales. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

5. Alexandre Lacazette was utterly anonymous

I was not all that worried about Alexandre Lacazette during his dry goalscoring run through the festive period. While the goals were undoubtedly eluding him and his confidence was beginning to seep away, he was still playing well. His interplay was neat and tidy, he showed a deceptive strength in holding up possession, and his movement continued to create space and chances for others. After Tuesday night’s performance, I am a little more concerned.

Lacazette had just 39 touches. Only Petr Cech, in the Arsenal team, had less. Lukasz Fabianski had 37. Even Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who was introduced until the 60th minute, had 42. He had exactly zero touches in the penalty in the second half, and a possession share of just 2.2%. To put that stat into context, Jordan Ayew had a possession share of 2.3%. Swansea, as a team, had just 25.3% possession; Arsenal, as a team, had 74.7% possession. That is the definition of anonymity.

Those statistics are extremely worrying. Lacazette needs to be more involved in the play. That is both the responsibility of himself, being able to seek out and exploit space with sharp and intelligent movement, and the responsibility of the midfield to provide him accurate and frequent service. Against Swansea, neither of those things happened. It was painful to watch.