Swansea City v Arsenal: live Swansea 3-2 Arsenal (Graham 70) Wow. Swansea switched off for Arsenal's goal - it was an easy through ball up the middle from Djourou to Walcott. Very similar to the first goal; when Swansea's centre-backs get separated they can be totally vulnerable. Walcott chips nicely over Vorm for his first PL goal in three months. But Swansea score with their first move. It's a long through ball down the inside-right channel (I think Sigurdsson hit the pass) for Danny Graham, who thumps the ball past Szczesny. A fine finish, and what a sucker punch. Swansea 2-2 Arsenal (Walcott 69) I'd write about this properly, but... 67 min Arsenal are trying to speed things up without much success. Swansea aren't being made to work all that hard yet. 65 min Henry gets involved deep on the left touchline and feeds the ball on to Van Persie. He plays it back to Rosicky (on for Benayoun) who lashes wide. On the subject of Thierry Henry's beard, Harry Cordina insists he was talking about Barabbas, not Baracus. You are right; I meant the one Pontius Pilate pardoned. At least in some films or passion plays Barabbas was always portrayed with a beard. Which leads to the obvious question: could Mr T play Barabbas? Meanwhile I like Jennifer Mitchell's suggestion a lot: "Could it be that he is rebelling against the "Gillette curse?" 63 min Sigurdsson takes two corners from the right. Graham fluffed his header from the first after catching Song napping, and Arsenal clear the second easily. And Arshavin comes off for you know how. 62 min More dangerous stuff from Sigurdsson, who looks for Graham with another curving pass, this one from deep. Graham beats Mertesacker to it this time but can't open up a shooting angle. 60 min Sigurdsson almost gives Graham an easy header, arcing the ball into his path with a sweet chipped pass. It's just beyond the striker. Henry will be on soon for Arsenal. Swansea 2-1 Arsenal (Dyer 57) That's some finish from Nathan Dyer! Ramsey, who conceded the penalty for Swansea's first, gives the ball away in his own half, letting Allen advance towards the Arsenal box. Allen slips the ball right to Dyer, who gets the ball out from his feet and lashes a confident strike high past Szczesny with his right as the keeper comes out. 56 min Sigurdsson tries a fancy trick to beat Mertesacker on the Arsenal touchline but ends up in a muddle with the ball bouncing out of play. 54 min Rangel chips a nice ball over the top in Dyer's direction. Again Koscielny gets there first, and he has time to carry out a calm clearance. He's having a great game. 52 min Williams gives Walcott no time on the ball after he collects another cross from Miquel which cleared the area, and his crunching but fair challenge recovers possession for Swansea. 51 min Dyer controls the ball just outside the Arsenal box and to the left of the D. His shot looks dangerous and draws a gasp from the Liberty Stadium, but it's well over. 50 min Koscielny is on his toes smartly to beat Graham to a low ball in from Rangel after a nice move from Swansea. 48 min Outside the penalty box, the ball falls to Arshavin in space. Swansea's defenders don't even pretend to look afraid because they know he's going to do something rubbish. Sure enough, his shot flies way over the bar. 47 min Arshavin releases Miquel, who curves an exquisite low ball across goal. It's between keeper and defence and just a couple of feet away from both Van Persie and Walcott. The ball bounces out the other side of the box. 46 min Arsenal kick off and Theo Walcott is almost immediately through on goal after a great bit of control and a nice pass from Van Persie. It's a hard chance from a tight angle and Walcott blazes over. Gylfi Sigurdsson has replaced Agustien, and Thierry Henry is warming up. Which is good news, whatever you think of his beard. HALF TIME I wasn't optimistic about this game, but that was a very entertaining half of football. The scoreline reflects the balance of things pretty well - Arsenal flew out of the box and earned their quick opener; Swansea dominated for 25 minutes or so in the middle of the half, without creating all that many chances, before being pushed back once again towards the end. Half-time emails: Henry's beard: "Is Henry that old that he's has one too many face lifts and now has a beard?" ponders Andy Holgate. I think he's going for a kind of elder statesman look. "It does not become him," says Harry Zammit Cordina. He looks like Barabbas. He used to look much better before. Is it possible you mean Baracus there, Harry, as in "I pity the fool!" Unless you're talking about the guy Pontius Pilate pardoned instead of Jesus. I don't know if he had a beard. ...and finally, MC Kenna is in the house: "Thierry's beard looks like one of those magnetic iron-filing spy disguise toys that you used to get on markets when you were a kid." I can't say whether or not I agree with you, MC, because I have no idea what that is. And here's another cold cure (see Ed Ballard's personal problems, 15.46), this time from Keith Skeaping. Auld Scottish saying 'a glass of cold water' at the onset of a cold does the trick....but from the sound of it you're already in the second half. Maybe just headbutt Death's door.... 45 min+2 The half's ending with Swansea looking a bit harassed, passing out from the back with Arsenal breathing down their necks. Arsenal can't make the pressure count, though, and that's it. 45 min Arsenal have a free kick on the left after Britton fouled Miquel. Arshavin whips it in and Walcott (!) wins the header. Straight at Vorm. 43 min Arsenal are hogging the ball in Swansea's half without being all that good, so let's have another cold cure. "Bonjour Ed, c'est moi encore (from France)," says Paul Hobart. Your cold: 1) Stuff yourself full of friut and veg in a rainbow of colours, not less than 10 portions a day and this will fill you with illness fighting antioxidants. 2) Keep eating oily fish like mackerel, sardines and trout at least 3 portions a week and 3) Make sure you keep eating berries and citrus fruit (kiwi is good) for immune strengthening Vitamin C to prevent the cold coming back. Great goal from Arsenal, but Walcott will soon have done sufficient nothing to allow The Man to come on. 42 min A bit of hustle from Song kets him hustle the ball away from Dyer and hurtle into Swansea's half. He knocks the ball on to RVP, trying to work some urgency back into Arsenal. The Dutchman's offside. 40 min Great, direct play from Swansea. Williams steps out of defence and lofts a superb through ball over to Dyer, who's beaten the offside trap on the right. He cuts speedily back onto his left and thumps a decent shot at goal. Szczesny fields without too much bother. 38 min Benayoun, Song and Ramsey knock the ball around, starting to look confident. Caulker does well to clear the danger when Arsenal eventually work the ball into the attacking third, smartly intercepting a through ball meant for Song. 36 min That's more like it from Arsenal. Van Persie advances at the defence, waiting for a passing option. When Ramsey gets into position in front of him Van Persie plays a quick give-and-go to get into a shooting position. Ramsey's return pass was minutely overhit, allowing Vorm to save, but that was the best thing Arsenal have done in a while. 35 min Rangel gets forward, scoots away from the unfussed Arshavin, beats Miquel, and lofts a ball into the box. Arsenal hack the ball clear desperately eventually. 34 min Caulker's all patched up and Swansea are up to 11 again. 33 min Caulker cut himself going for that header and he's getting the blood mopped up on the touchline. Swansea down to 10 for the moment. 32 min Allen's high, swirling ball is met by Caulker at the far post. He nods it back into danger and this is looking very good for Swansea. Fortunately for the visitors the ball falls to Koscielny, who manages to clear. 31 min Rangel is brought down by Benayoun as he cuts in from the left, and Swansea have a free kick from 30 yards or so, to the right of the area... 29 min Van Persie is in loads of space after Ashley Williams had ventured off upfield for some reason. Benayoun spots the opportunity and angles a good ball into his path. It's on Van Persie's right foot once again, and this time he can't beat Vorm, who closes down the angle well and blocks the shot. A good chance wasted, that. 27 min A rare breather, with moves breaking down haplessly at either end. 25 min From the set piece the ball comes out to Dyer, who spots Sinclair unmarked to the left of the area. He feeds a neat pass in his direction and Sinclair's got time to pick out a team-mate or set up a shot. He spoons the ball horribly out of play. Filth. 24 min Mertesacker knocks the ball behind for a corner after Taylor got into a good position on the left flank. 23 min Britton and co circulate the ball for a few seconds in midfield before Agustien pings a nice pass through to Dyer. He's got goalside of debutant Ignasi Miquel but Koscielny is covering well. He clears. 22 min Mertesacker tries a first-time through ball on the volley from the centre circle after being first to get to Sinclair's clearance. It's safe to say that first-time volleyed through balls aren't his speciality, and this one bounces sadly out of play. 20 min Far from being the ponderous, dull affair I predicted, this is becoming a tense and panicky-feeling game. Swansea have definitely had the better of it since Arsenal's opener, and have dominated possession - 60 percent or thereabouts. Impressive. 18 min Van Persie's shot is blocked and trickles towards Vorm but the keeper doesn't get there and the ball bounces around the box a bit. It almost falls to Ramsey - he'd have an open goal - but the ball's cleared. I think that's what happened, roughly; I was mostly still typing up the last entry. Swansea 1-1 Arsenal (Sinclair 16) It's Ramsey who gives it away, getting Dyer's ankle with a little tap as Dyer was shielding the ball from Koscielny in the box. Sinclair goes hard and low to the right and beats Szczesny with a cool spot-kick. 14 min That's a dreadful ball in from Allen, clean out of play. 13 min A free kick for Swansea to the right of the penalty area after a handball from Benayoun... 11 min Not much happening in the football, Swansea are starting to edge into it without threatening, so here are some cold cures (see 15.46). Here's Jeff Wighum. "The big hit in Germany is a root extract called "Umckaloabo" (um-cuckal-oh-Agh-boo) - you take 30 drops every half hour. After 3 hours you take 4cc of whisky and go to bed. When you get up 2 days later the cold is gone. 2 days after that, so is the hangover. Gute besserung. Thanks Jeff! And another from Terezinha Borges: "Haven't had a common cold since I started taking propolis some years back. What is propolis? The elixir and anti-viral substance produced by bees. Just pop a dozen drops on your cornflakes. Works a treat! Thanks Terezinha! 10 min Sinclair tries to feed a through-ball on for Dyer but he's beaten to the ball by Koscielny. Swansea are starting to see a little more of the ball. 9 min Dyer does that disappointed sigh thing that footballers like to do when a team-mate overhits a pass. You know the one, it's the one that says "If you weren't so useless I'd definitely have scored there but you're a mate so I'll let you off this time," and it's combined by a roll of the eyes. He was in a decent position on the left but the through ball (didn't see whose, sorry) was overhit. 7 min Van Persie whips a cross out of play from a free kick in a very good position over by the right touchline. Swansea are struggling to escape their half. Swansea 0-1 Arsenal (RVP 5) Arshavin feeds it through to Van Persie, who's got between Williams and Caulker all too easily. For a moment it looks as though hesitation might have taken the chance away from him, but he lofts the ball elegantly over Vorm as he approaches. A lovely finish, very easy for Arsenal, and who knows - maybe this will be a thriller after all. 3 min Van Persie nods the ball on cleverly to Walcott, who can't get the ball under control in a very dangerous position deep inside Swansea's area. Something of a let-off for Swansea there as Vorm gathers. 1 min They're off. The first chance falls to Agustien. Not much of a chance, really - he dodged a challenge in midfield and let fly from 30 yards. Miles wide. 16.00 We're about to get under way. Everybody's patting Thierry on the back, and Arsene Wenger's shaking hands with his opposte number. He's smiling politely, but Sky's gossip is that he's complained about the quality of the pitch. Ospreys played on Friday and it's looking a little messy. 15.55 All of Sky's pregame punditry focused, predictably, on the sides' shared love of a possession-based game. Swansea's possession stats are the fifth best in Europe, would you believe. Impressively, nobody on the TV sofa made the obvious point - that there's a serious risk that we're going to be sitting through a goalless hour-and-a-half of slowed-down tika taka. 15.51 Arteta's injury, by the way, is a dicky knee. Twitter's Arsenal fans are fretting that he'll miss the Gunners' date with Manchester United a week today. 15.46 If I know anything about the internet, it's that the internet was invented to let enthusiastic but unqualified people dish out medical advice. So, internet, let me ask you this: what's the best cure for the common cold? I've got my inaugural cold of 2012, and it's a rotter. I think it's some extra murderous new strain of cold. Though it would be an exaggeration to say I'm on Death's door, I'm not far away. I'm definitely lurking on Death's porch and having a root around in Death's bins. So what've you got, internet? I've already got lemsip; I'm looking for something more original from you. Let me know here. 15.41 Sky's tunnel-man has cornered Arsene Wenger, who shows off his tactical brains when it's pointed out to him that Arsenal and Swansea play a similar style of football. "Well, it will be the team who plays this type of game the best who will win," he points out astutely. Within the same system, us trying to play better. He says Henry isn't starting because he's not quite match-fit. 15.39 Full teams. Benayoun starts for Arsenal in place of the African-Cup-of-Nations-bound Gervinho, while Arteta misses out through injury. Thierry Henry starts on the bench, as does Swansea's (very handy) Icelandic loan signing, Gylfi Sigurdsson - expect a cameo from him too. Gervinho and Chamakh are off to the Cup of Nations. The absence of Marouane Chamakh, in particular, will have prompted crisis meetings at the Emirates. Ho ho. Swansea: Vorm, Rangel, Caulker, Williams, Taylor, Dyer, Agustien, Britton, Allen, Sinclair, Graham. Subs: Tremmel, Routledge, Monk, Lita, Moore, Richards, Sigurdsson. Arsenal: Szczesny, Djourou, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Miquel, Walcott, Ramsey, Song, Benayoun, Arshavin, van Persie. Subs:Almunia, Rosicky, Park, Henry, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Squillaci, Yennaris. Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland) 15.24 Good afternoon, readers. Ready for what promises to be a smashing afternoon of football? Well, how about a cagey and circumspect afternoon of football? Sorry, I know those aren't the most exciting adjectives, but I think it's better for all of us to face facts. Swansea don't go in for thrillers at home, and so far this season Arsenal have both made it their aim to grind out nervy one-goal victories. Thank goodness, then, for the definitely-not-boring comeback of Thierry Henry, returning from the wilderness with that serious beard of his, looking like a well-groomed prophet. Sunday, January 15, 2012 Swansea City v Arsenal Liberty Stadium Kick-off: 16.00 GMT. Referee: Michael Oliver (Matches 10, R3 Y26). Team News Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers has almost a full squad to select from ahead of Sunday's Liberty Stadium meeting with Arsenal.