With an international break on the horizon, Arsenal somehow find themselves in a great position to go into a two week break in a good position, just a point behind Man City and well above the likes of Liverpool, Man United and Tottenham. And we also need a win to put some poor results and performances behind us and set ourselves up for the rest of the season.
Arsene Wenger has the usual number of injury problems in the squad, with no Arteta, Koscielny, Debuchy, Giroud or Ozil available. So Arsene Wenger has decided to keep, as far as possible, the side that started against Anderlecht and got the Gunners three goals to the good on Tuesday.
The Frenchman clearly feels that letting in three late goals was an aberration and does not expect it to happen again, so the only change he has made is a forced one due to the knock picked up by Mikel Arteta, with Mathieu Flamini coming in for the captain.
Szczesny
Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs
Chamberlain, Ramsey, Flamini, Cazorla
Alexis, Welbeck
subs: Martinez, Bellerin, Rosicky, Wilshere, Podolski, Walcott, Sanogo
There is plenty of attacking talent on the bench but not a lot in the way of shoring things up, so I expect the Gunners to start very solid and make sure we do not concede and that we dominate the ball and wear Swansea down. Of course we will be looking to score but with a makeshift back four and a poor defensive record this season, keeping a clean sheet is perhaps the key to winning this game.