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Frank Stubbs: Welsh Wonder

13/14: Swansea City 1-2 Arsenal - Serge Gnabry

We all know we are not going to win every single game. But September has proved that perfection on the results front is definitely achievable. Saturday's south Wales adventure completed a quite fantastic month to be Gooner.

The late kick-off made it very difficult for all those travelling Gooners who chose public transport to actually get home so our own group was joined by many who had decided to make the most of Swansea's entertaining nightlife after the game.

Despite being enjoyable, that plan only feels all the sweeter if you have come away with a victory.

The journey west in the morning had proved quick and trouble-free so pre-match refreshment was lengthy and enjoyable, and the walk to the Liberty Stadium graced with confidence given our recent run. We all knew, however, that our hosts were very capable of turning us over if we weren't at our very best.

For me we got it pretty much tactically spot-on. Our hosts shaded the first half in my book but our defensive shape was excellent, limiting Swansea to very little as far as chances were concerned. With our attacking options we all knew we would enjoy our own opportunities at some stage, with evidence provided by Olly's great chance on the stroke of half-time.

Almost like releasing a coiled spring, we struck with incredible venom early in the second period.

Serge capped a fine display with his first goal of his Arsenal career and the travelling Gooners went crazy. Mesut had a great chance to double our lead soon after but before we had time to wonder if that would prove costly another flowing move saw Rambo smash our second into the roof of the net, a goal that possibly only he enjoyed a little more (understandably) than the writhing yellow and blue army in the away end! Get in!

For the remainder of the game we looked extremely controlled, even after Swansea cut the deficit to make it a nervy last few minutes.

An excellent win at a stadium that will once again prove to be a tough place to go, and that extra ingredient we all needed to enjoy our host city's Saturday night offerings.

And you won't be surprised to know we did just that :-)

Sunday's 'uncomfortable' journey home gave us time to turn our thoughts to Napoli - like us, currently sitting proudly at the top of their domestic league. That is all we need to know that this will be an extremely tough encounter. One to thoroughly look forward to.

Come on you reds!

Frank
@stubbsy70