Monk's delight in disciplined display

11th May

Garry Monk hailed his side's attitude and discipline after they snatched a stunning 1-0 victory over Arsenal.

Bafe Gomis' late header earned the Swans an historic league double over the Gunners to cap off a phenomenally resilient display by Monk's men at the Emirates Stadium.

The Swans had to show superb organisation to contain the hosts throughout as Lukasz Fabianski made a number of impressive stops against his former club, including a stunning double save to deny Alexis Sanchez and then Theo Walcott.

And with five minutes left on the clock, second-half substitute Bafe Gomis nodded home the winner from Jefferson Montero's inviting cross to earn the Swans maximum points.


"I'm very pleased with the boys tonight," said Monk. "They showed excellent attitude, were very disciplined and worked well.

"Three points is the pleasing bit. We could have come here and gone toe-to-toe, but with the individual quality they have and that we were without a striker available, we settled for this game plan.

"The first half we were very comfortable in that shape. We could have done a little bit better with our passing but that improved in the second half. 

"It was always going to be difficult, but we've shown all season we can play different ways. 

"There are times when you have to be adaptable, and we've now done the double over Arsenal and Manchester United.

"We've played games where we've dominated the whole game, and then we've played games like we did tonight, where we've had to set up a little differently and concede possession but keep our shape.

"The idea was to get to the last 20 mins still in the game, make the substitutions and try and get the goal on a breakaway, which proved to be the point."

This victory puts the Swans within a point of seventh-placed Southampton and two points of sixth-placed with two games left to play.

But with a place in the Europa League within reach, Monk insists he is just focussing on the next three available points.

He added: "We have two games left. What will be will be - it's not my focus.

"We will push every single game like we have done all season, so I am only focusing on the next three points." 

Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was left frustrated after his side failed to make their dominance of possession count.

"We were unlucky," said Wenger. "Overall, I'm encouraged by the quality we showed in the second half, but it's frustrating to lose the game way we did. We had lapses in concentration and were caught cold.

"We rushed our finishing. It was just a question of scoring a goal. Fabianski played well, but in some occasions, we made it too easy for him."