swansea

  • Venue: Emirates Stadium
  • Date: Wednesday, 16th January
  • K/o: 19:30 GMT

Team News

Arsenal will be without suspended defender Laurent Koscielny for this FA Cup third-round replay, after the French centre-back was awarded a straight red card in the Gunners’ 2-0 home defeat to Champions Manchester City at the weekend.

Midfielder Mikel Arteta is also missing with a calf injury, though Abou Diaby may continue his return to match fitness having returned from injury to play against City.

Swansea manager Michael Laudrup has a fully fit squad to select from.

Roland Lamah is the only player he cannot select for contention as he was not registered at the time of the initial tie.

Match Preview

Swansea vs Arsenal at the Liberty Stadium on 6th January was one of the stand-out ties from the third-round of the FA Cup. It was one of the more topsy-turvy games you are likely to see at this stage of the competition – a frantic spell of three goals in six minutes saw Arsenal get themselves back into the tie with an equaliser in the last ten minutes after Michu had earlier put the hosts in front. The Gunners then took the initiative to go 2-1 up with just over five minutes to play before Danny Graham snatched a last gasp leveler to tie the game at 2-2, and here we are.

With an away trip to Chelsea to contend with at the weekend, a midweek replay in the FA Cup is probably the last thing manager Arsene Wenger wanted as he prepares for the important top-four clash.

Swansea meanwhile will consider themselves lucky to still be in contention after leaving it so late to dramatically claw themselves back into this tie. But Laudrup’s men will be full of confidence with a 2-0 away advantage over Chelsea in the League Cup still to defend, and they will be looking for a similar upset here.

Likely Line-Ups

Arsenal

Szczesny, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Jenkinson, Cazorla, Chamberlain, Diaby, Walcott, Podolski, Giroud

Swansea

Vorm, Williams, Rangel, Davies, Chico, Muchu, Routledge, De Guzman, Dyer, Hernandez, Graham

Source(s): BBC

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