Overall, a very poor result from Arsenal – but the performance was marginally better than mediocre. Szczesny ensured that it was just two, with some strong saves. Arsenal were let down by a very flat midfield performance and a real lack of fire-power up-front.

Szczesny - 7 - Pulled off some great saves in the first half, and early in the second. Strong hands throughout, but some poor distribution helped put the side under pressure. But Arsenal’s best player by some margin.

Jenkinson - 5 - Had performed well until the final minutes. Constantly pushing up and down the right hand side, his desire to get forward and pass forward let him down in the end. Credit to Swansea for the pressure, but he should have played the easy ball!

Vermaelen - 5 - One strong tackle in the first half – when Mertesacker lost a header against Michu and put Dyer through. But he should have scored a goal, and made some silly mistakes at other times – including for the first goal.

Mertesacker - 6 - Generally solid, but not his normal command of the back-line.

Gibbs - 6 - Didn’t really do anything wrong, and was always a willing runner. But he was let down by players in front of him.

Arteta - 6 - His normal metronomic performance:  81 passes with a 96% success rate. He got frustrated and pushed forward more than normal – but there was a ‘flatness’ about the midfield, providing little spark for the team.

Carzorla - 7 - 4 dribbles, and 4 shots on target suggests a strong performance from the Spaniard. But he hardly troubled the keeper with his shots, and generally didn’t take enough risks.

Wilshere - 6 - Lots of running from side-to-side across the pitch, and lots of sideways passes. Made just 56 passes – far fewer than his colleagues in midfield – and generally looked short of ideas and imagination.

Podolski - 5 - Lots of running, but to little effect.

Walcott - 5 - Didn’t seem to get going today, showing limited willingness to run at players, and not much link-up play with either Jenkinson or the midfield.

Gervinho - 4 - To be fair to Gervinho, he didn’t see the ball much and did his fair share of chasing – chasing back, and chasing forward to try and get sight of the ball. But when it did come to him, he tended to slow things down, rather than keep the momentum going.

Subs

Giroud - 5 - Won a couple of headers, and helped create a bit of extra spark up-front – but not enough time or supply to make a difference.

Oxlade-Chamberlain - 4 - Was poor. Gave the ball away at one key moment, and didn’t get a chance to get into the game.

Rosicky - n/a - Great to see him back in the side – but with ten minutes to go, he hardly touched the ball.

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