It was good to see Arsenal looking ruthless and to go for the jugular away to Swansea City in the second half, leading to a perhaps flattering scoreline of 4-0, because a few times this season we have taken the lead only to take our foot off the gas.
Sometimes you get away with that and our stronger looking defence and the all-round solidity that the Gunners have been showing this season makes that more likely, but sometimes you will not and at this stage of the season, even with almost half of the Premier League games left to play, Arsenal have no room for error.
I think that Arsene Wenger knows it as well, because he made a point of talking about and praising the ruthless streak that his players showed in the second half at the Liberty Stadium during his post match interview reported by the Arsenal website.
The boss said, “We had some problems to get going but I put that down to the fact that Swansea played very well in the first half. They were well-organised, they put unbelievable work in and certainly the second half we took over and they couldn’t follow the pace that we put into the game any more. We were relentless until the end and much sharper in the transitions and more accurate and quicker in our passing. That made a big difference.”
To have any realistic chance of challenging for the title, however, or even to ensure a place in the top four at the end of this very competitive season, the Gunners have to continue to show this killer instinct, because looking at Chelsea and Tottenham’s games yesterday it looks like they will not be giving us any help.
Bob.