Prediction: Swansea vs Arsenal

Having extended the impressive league run with a goalless draw at Goodison Park, Swansea will be looking to cement their place in the top half of the standings with a positive result against Arsenal. The Gunners have finally shown some improvement in the Premier League, but they will have a lot to prove after squandering a three-goal lead against Anderlecht in midweek.

Not too many people believed Swansea would remain on the uptrend when Michael Laudrup was surprisingly sacked in February, but his successor Gary Monk quickly proved the doubters wrong and showed the club chiefs were right to take a gamble with him. With Gylfi Sigurdsson and Ki Sung-Yong returning to Liberty Stadium this summer, the Swans enjoyed a bright start to the season, and now have a chance to climb to fourth by defeating Arsenal on Sunday. While they came really close to eliminating Liverpool from the Capital One Cup only to lose 2-1, Swansea kept two clean sheets in the league, defeating Leicester at home before sharing spoils with Everton at Goodison Park and no doubt they will prove a tough nut to crack for Arsenal as well. Rather than defending for their lives, the Swans will attempt to keep the possession of the ball for as long as possible and seeing as how they are more than capable of this, the Gunners could find it hard to extend the impressive scoring run at Liberty Stadium. Gary Monk will have Jordi Amat and Dwight Tiendalli back from injury, but Jonjo Shelvey is banned after seeing red last weekend.

Despite showing glimpses of quality on rare occasions, Arsenal are still unable to hit the ground running, with consistency, or rather the lack of it, still a major issue. In all fairness, Arsene Wenger has had quite a few important players out on the sidelines during the opening exchanges, but that is hardly a first for the Frenchman. After enjoying a great start to his career in North London, Danny Welbeck is misfiring at the moment, while Aaron Ramsey has been unable to rediscover his form, with even Wenger criticising the Welshman for disregarding his midfield duties in search of goals. Alexis Sanchez is arguably the only player in the team currently performing to his potential, but there is only so much he can do on his own. Patching up the leaky defence is the first thing on Wenger’s mind after the Gunners let a three-goal lead slip in the Champions League clash against Anderlecht, so don’t expect the visitors to go all guns blazing at Swansea, especially since the players remain low on confidence. It remains to be seen whether Theo Walcott will be handed his first start in the new season, but Mikel Arteta is out injured, although Jack Wilshere returns from illness.

Conclusion

A match between two sides nurturing possession football is unlikely to offer plenty of goalscoring opportunities, meaning that under 2.5 goals looks a good option here. Arsenal may have been scoring goals for fun of late, but they will now be up against a rock-solid defence that kept two successive clean sheets.

Verdict: Under 2.5 goals

Best Odds: 19/20

Bookmaker: bet365