Swansea hands Arsenal second-straight defeat

Published January 15, 2012

| Sports Network

Swansea, Wales – Swansea City piled on the misery for Arsene 2 defeat of Arsenal on Sunday, handing the Gunners their straight loss in Premier League play.

When Robin van Persie opened the scoring with a goal in the fifth minute, it looked as if the Gunners were poised to put their 2-1 loss at Fulham behind them and cruise to a comfortable win at the Liberty Stadium. But Swansea responded 11 minutes later with Scott Sinclair pumping a penalty kick past Wojciech Szczesny to give the home side a fighting chance.

Swansea emerged from halftime and immediately went on the attack, looking the likelier of the two teams to get in front.

And in the 58th minute the home side was rewarded for its efforts as Swansea capitalized on some poor passing between Aaron Ramsey and Andrei Arshavin to retain possession in the attacking third of the field. The ball was sent across the box to Nathan Dyer who took a touch and fired home the go-ahead goal.

Arsenal answered through Theo Walcott, who latched onto a through ball and guided a shot into the back of the net to equalize in the 69th minute.

But the tying goal did not stand for long, as Danny Graham broke free just 45 seconds later and slipped a shot past Szczesny from a tough angle on the right side of the box to hand his team all three points.

Swansea has now won two straight as it continues its impressive season in England's top flight. The Welsh club sits midtable on 26 points.

Arsenal, meanwhile, has seen its form slip following an impressive spell. A win would have seen the Gunners climb to within a point of fourth-place Chelsea, but instead they sit just outside of a Champions League position, tied with Newcastle on 36 points.

Newcastle 1, QPR 0

Newcastle, England - Mark Hughes failed to mark his managerial debut for QPR with a positive result as he watched his side fall to Newcastle, 1-0, at Sports Direct Arena on Sunday.

Leon Best scored the lone goal in the 37th minute, collecting the ball on the left side of the box before cutting inside and curling a shot to the far post.

Newcastle has won two straight in Premier League play to improve to 36 points on the year and jump ahead of Liverpool in the table, while QPR's woes continue as it drops its third successive match.

URL

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/01/15/swansea-hands-arsenal-second-straight-defeat/