Arsenal host Swansea City when the international break comes to an end on Saturday afternoon.
Swansea City manager Bob Bradley during the press conference
Arsenal play hosts to Swansea City when the Premier League season resumes on Saturday in a tie which usually proves to be an interesting contest. With that in mind, here are three things you should be looking out for during Saturday’s game at the Emirates Stadium.
Bradley makes his bow
Perhaps the biggest piece of news from the Premier League during the international break was last week’s sacking of Swansea boss Francesco Guidolin and replacing him almost immediately with former USA coach Bob Bradley.
Francesco Guidolin was sacked by Swansea last week
Bradley arguably could not have asked for a more testing fixture, with the Gunners in scintillating form and a Swansea team in dire straits. However, expect his impact to be immediate; while his managerial career has rendered no set formation, you can be sure that the trademark tirelessness and counter-attacking will be cause for concern for an Arsenal team who sometimes struggle to break down opposition.
Under-strength Arsenal
Arsene Wenger may look to rest some key players who got a run-out for their countries over the course of the international break.
For instance, Nacho Monreal received late news that he was to play deputy to Jordi Alba for his first Spain game since 2013. As a result, he will have had little rest given his Arsenal commitments already this season. As well as this, Theo Walcott looks set to make it two England appearances in two games upon his return to the national set-up, so Wenger may look to rotate his attacking options as well.
Arsenal’s Nacho Monreal was in action for Spain for the first time since 2013
Swans beat the bookies
Despite the Gunners heading into this as hot favourites, the Emirates has been a very happy hunting ground for the Swans in recent years. Since their promotion to the top flight, they have lost just once in the league when visiting the red half of North London – a 1-0 defeat in 2011.
Ashley Williams scored the winner in a 2-1 Swansea victory at the Emirates in March 2016
While all the signs point to an Arsenal win, this exact fixture has tripped up the Gunners at crucial times before – let’s not forget that in March this year, Swansea’s 2-1 victory effectively ended any hope of a title charge.
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