Swansea 0 - 4 Arsenal

Poor Swansea.  They looked woeful today.  After a lively display for the first few minutes, they settled into a pattern of high pressing, which did discombobulate us, but when they won the ball they generally lost it again promptly.  Giroud managed to get hurt (ankle?) in the buildup to the first goal.  In the second half, there were two wicked deflections from an Iwobi shot and an Iwobi cross for our next two goals, and Alexis potted the fourth after more relentless pressure--nice finish.  Ox got some quality time when he came in for Giroud; Perez and Welbeck got some garbage time late on after the scoring was done.

I was not impressed with the defensive effort and organization.  I saw Ramsey, Ozil, and Alexis all trotting back on several occasions, leaving us at a disadvantage.  Once Ozil gestured to the rest of the team to join him in what he seemed to think was a press, but looked more like a leisurely jog.  No one was interested.  Gabriel sent a pass straight across the field in the last minute of the first half--the score was 1-0--and it was intercepted.  Dumb.  Particularly after we went up a few goals, the defense was slack.  I don't blame our backs.  Nacho was inspirational.  Kos was his usual magnificent self.  Mustafi didn't play as well, I thought.  Gabriel did a decent job again for Bellerin, who'd gotten hurt in training.

I liked Xhaka's commitment to defense.  Clearly, Ramsey was the DM with the license to roam.  His license may be revoked when Coquelin's hamstring heals; I may have gotten the wrong impression, but I thought he misplaced a lot of passes.  His one good chance was foiled when he put his shot too close to Fabianski.  Iwobi generated energy and looked dangerous.  Alexis was a little less involved than usual.  Ozil seems to be getting into the flow.  Giroud did a lot of work up top as an outlet for long kicks from Cech; I thought he had a good spell until he had to leave.

We didn't learn much today, but the three points were crucial, and the +4 goal differential was nice too.

Spurs looked great in the early game, with England's new action hero Harry Kane potting a hat trick.  Chelsea is cruising against Leicester without the petulant Diego Costa (I turned the game off at 2-0).  We need to improve.