Alex Iwobi is surrounded by his Arsenal team-mates after his shot found the back of the net with the help of Swansea star Cork. PHOTO/Daily Mail
SWANSEA, Wales, Jan 14- Arsenal were deadly in the second half as they enjoyed a 4-0 win over Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.
The Swans did well to stifle the Gunners for most of the first half while also getting a couple of chances themselves, but Olivier Giroud found the net for the fifth time in as many matches just before the break.
Arsenal made a flying start to the second half and put the Swans on the back foot, and this paid off in the 54th minute when Alex Iwobi drilled a low cross into the box that deflected off Jack Cork to find it’s way past Lukasz Fabianski.
The Nigerian forward repeated the trick in the 67th minute, showing some skills on the left flank before sending another cross in, and this time it was Kyle Naughton who got the unlucky touch to send it into his own net.
Both teams took a while to get into the swing of things, with the Swans offering the first attempt at goal with a half-volley from the edge of the box that was on it’s way in at the far post until Petr Cech got down well to tip it away from the bottom corner.
A couple of minutes later and Gylfi Sigurdsson also worked a shot at goal, but it over the crossbar.
As the half-hour mark passed the Gunners seemed to be getting frustrated at the tenacious Swans, but they took the lead just before halftime when Olivier Giroud struck in the 37th minute.
The French striker seemed to injure himself in the build-up to the goal as he tried to get onto a low cross from the right flank, but he got back up as the ball was recycled on the left, with the ball into the box from Alexis Sanchez was headed back down across goal by Mesut Ozil, and it sat up perfectly for Giroud to bang in from close range.
The Welsh side though they had a penalty in the 44th minute when Sung-Yeung Ki flew into the box to receive the ball from Fernando Llorente and went down after brushing past Laurent Koscielny.
The ref blew his whistle and went to his pocket, but the to South Korean’s chagrin it was to book him for a dive.
Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud shoots and scores to give his side the lead against the run of play against Swansea. PHOTO/Daily Mail
The second half saw Arsenal come out with guns blazing, with a couple of dangerous efforts blocked in the 52nd minute before Aaron Ramsey latched onto a through-ball from Sanchez, but saw his effort stopped by Lukasz Fabianski.
But the Gunners would double their lead just a minute later when Nigerian attacker Alex Iwobi burst down the right flank and drilled a cross into the box, which took a big deflection off Jack Cork to send it looping up and over Fabianski and in at the far post.
Iwobi was at it again on the other side of the pitch in the 66th minute, bamboozling his marker with some quick feet in the box before sending another ball across goal that, for the second time in quick succession, took a deflection, this time off Kyle Naughton, on it’s way into the net.
Alexis then added his name to the list to make it four in the 73rd minute. The Chilean, who had been fantastic, got a bit lucky for this one. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, a 60th-minute sub for Olivier Giroud, cut it back from the left flank to Ramsey.
Routledge got a touch ahead of the Welshman, but that just set it up for Alexis to blast home.
