Arsenal’s Theo Walcott has hailed the all-important three points, despite a less than impressive performance in earning them.
The Gunners looked to be having an easy time of it in the early exchanges of the game, but after the England international put us 2-0 up with a brace, Swansea suddenly came to life.
Sigurdsson managed to pull a goal back shortly after the Gunners took a 2-0 lead, and kept the game alive going into the half-time interval.
The Welsh side then came out in the second-half with similar confidence, and gave poor Nacho Monreal a terribly tough time down the wing. Ozil managed to put the side 3-1 up on his birthday just before the sixty-minute mark, but the two-goal advantage was once again cut-down within 10 minutes.
Shortly after it became 3-2, Granit Xhaka got himself sent off, and the visitors continued to attack for the remainder of the match, and we can count ourselves lucky that they were not so clinical in front of goal.
Despite all the madness, Theo had a rather good game, and could have had four goals, but insists the win was key.
“It was a crazy game,” said Walcott.
“On a personal note, I would have liked to have had the hat-trick but the three points is all that matters. I think I could have scored three or four today but the win is all that matters.
“That is a tough Swansea side – people definitely underestimate them. They caused us problems out there today.
“It’s always hard after the international break for everyone to get back into rhythm but I would rather have had a scruffy game and win so that’s all that matters.
“The belief has always been there in the dressing room. We have got players who have come in and have settled in well and we need to build on it.
“We are grinding out results when called upon and that was definitely a grind today.”
Today’s win put us joint-top of the table, so the points cannot be underestimated, but does the match highlight our weaknesses, or more-so highlight our strength in character?
Pat J