When it seemed Arsenal could be heading for another Cup embarrassment, up stepped Jack Wilshere to save the day.
A fourth-round FA Cup tie at Brighton
may seem scant reward for 86 minutes of toil and increasing frustration
at the Emirates, but how Arsenal needed this precious win.
After Sunday's defeat by Manchester City
and their Capital One Cup exit at Bradford, English football's oldest
domestic knockout competition provided Arsenal with a victory their
performance merited.
Scroll down to watch match highlights
Match winner: Wilshere's goal secured Arsenal's passage into the fourth round
Match facts
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Diaby (Ramsey 82), Coquelin, Walcott, Wilshere, Cazorla, Giroud.
Subs not used: Mannone, Podolski, Andre Santos, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arshavin, Jenkinson.
Goal: Wilshere 86.
Swansea: Vorm,
Bartley, Richards, Chico, Tiendalli,Agustien (Pablo 59) , Britton,
Routledge, De Guzman(Ki Sung-Yeung 60) , Dyer, Graham (Michu 71) .
Subs not used: Tremmel, Hernandez, Monk, Shechter, Davies.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear)
Attendance: 58,359
They huffed, puffed and wasted chance after chance but, eventually, it was an Englishman who blew the house down.
Wilshere was sensational. Arsenal's No
10 played as a No 10, pushed forward behind Olivier Giroud with Francis
Coquelin and Abou Diaby left to anchor the midfield in the absence of
Mikel Arteta, who will miss at least three weeks with a calf strain.
Wilshere seemed to thrive in the role
and enjoy the responsibility, surging forward with his low centre of
gravity allowing him to cut through Swansea with an effortless balance
of style and power.
He ran the show, capping a superb
performance with the winning goal when he drove the ball past Michel
Vorm after a pass from Giroud.
Sometimes it is difficult to believe
this is a player who spent 15 months on the sidelines with a potentially
career-threatening stress fracture; still a relative newcomer who only
turned 21 on New Year's Day. It was starting to look like another one of
those nights for Arsenal.
Take Jack: Wilshere thrashes home the winner to seal a fourth round clash with Brighton
Swansea goalkeeper Vorm seemed
unbeatable and Arsene Wenger's side were horribly wasteful; missing a
string of chances despite dominating the second half.
Theo Walcott was back on the right wing
and promptly saw the man Wenger played through the middle, Giroud, miss
two excellent chances inside the first 10 minutes.
The Frenchman failed to hit the target
with a header and then a snatched right-foot shot, prompting a rueful
look from the England international.
It was, unfortunately, not the first
frustration of an exasperating night for the pair. While Giroud and
Walcott, in particular, deserve praise for the chances they created,
their finishing was appalling at times.
For all his improvement; for all the
wonderful goals this season, Walcott still looks fallible when he has
time to think about shooting.
The 23- year-old was desperately unlucky
to see a header hit the post with eight minutes remaining and forced
Danny Graham to chest the ball off the line, but he did not force Vorm
to make any spectacular saves.
Frustration: Arsenal had a number great chances, but failed to score them
He sprinted on to a beautiful ball from
Diaby in the second half and then held off Chico Flores only to clip his
right-foot shot beyond the far post.
Later he collected the ball on the left,
took it inside on to his right foot and then tried to angle a shot into
the far corner. It missed - not by a whisker, either - and only added
to the nervousness of the crowd and their team.
The relatively sparse crowd were tetchy
throughout. Many season ticket-holders had stayed away, upset at the
Category B prices for what is a Category C fixture when these sides meet
in the Barclays Premier League.
The official number of 'tickets sold'
was 58,359, but the empty red seats told the real story. The open nature
of this game did little to ease t h e h ome fans' anxiety.
Nathan Dyer was denied only by a Thomas Vermaelen block and former Gunner Kyle Bartley headed against the bar from six yards.
Michu, so impressive in Swansea's 2-0
league win at the Emirates in December, was only a substitute as Michael
Laudrup freshened up a team playing their fifth game of 2013.
Rearguard action: Swansea defended stoically, but were finally broken down
But, such is the strength of the
striker's reputation, he was booed by the home fans when he replaced
Graham with 19 minutes to go.
Arsenal, though, should have had victory
sealed by then. With the Premier League visit of Stoke and the second
leg of their Carling Cup semi-final against Chelsea to come in the next
week, the Swansea manager rested regulars such as Angel Rangel and
Ashley Williams, but the Welsh side still competed with Arsenal, for the
first 60 minutes at least.
Put it there: Wilshere was mobbed by his relieved team-mates after scoring the winner
Santi Cazorla was not at his most effective on the left, but Arsenal still created plenty of first-half opportunities.
Diaby and Walcott both had shots blocked and Vorm saved smartly from Coquelin and then Vermaelen just before half-time.
Walcott, Cazorla and Giroud all fired
wide just after the re-start before Graham and Leon Britton cleared
shots off the line. Extra time was looming until Wilshere took matters
into his own hands.
'I don't think I will hit another one like that in my life,' he said. You get the feeling he just might.
New balls please: It appears the two teams used one of Swansea's footballs in the first hal
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