Ten years at the Liberty: A famous Premier League win

10th May

To celebrate Swansea City's tenth season at the Liberty Stadium, we are looking back on the stand-out moments over the last decade.
Here, we return to a famous top-flight victory as the Swans beat Arsenal in a tremendous occasion at the Liberty.




Swansea City 3 Arsenal 2
Barclays Premier League
January 15, 2012


By the time English giants Arsenal visited the Liberty Stadium, Swansea's debut season in the Barclays Premier League had already reached its midway point.
And after a slow start to life in the top flight, the Swans were now enjoying life in the Premier tier, sitting in a healthy 12th position in the division.
Arsenal, meanwhile, arrived in South Wales in fifth, with a host of top-class players within their squad, including Robin Van Persie, Theo Walcott and the returning Thierry Henry, who was on loan from New York Red Bulls.
The game began at a frantic pace, with Kemy Agustien showing the home side's intentions with a powerful run and shot inside the first minute.



Yet, despite Swansea's impressive start, it was the Gunners who struck first after just five minutes when a pass from Andrey Arshavin split a static defence for Van Persie to run onto and slot past Swans goalkeeper Michel Vorm.
The early setback didn't seem to disrupt Swansea's rhythm though, and flying wingers Scott Sinclair and Nathan Dyer began to cause the visitors problems at every given opportunity.
It took the Swans just ten minutes to level the scores - following a neat exchange of passes between Joe Allen and Sinclair before Dyer was fouled by Aaron Ramsey inside the box.
Referee Michael Oliver pointed to the spot, and though Wojciech Szczesny dived the right way, he wasn't getting close to Sinclair's perfectly-placed effort from 12 yards.
The equaliser gave the Swans added belief as diminutive pass masters Allen and Leon Britton began to pull the strings from the heart of midfield.
Ashley Williams then played in Sinclair, whose cross was cut out by Per Mertesacker at the near post before Van Persie was forced to clear off his own line from a Steven Caulker header.



At the other end, Van Persie nearly added his second from a Yossi Benayoun cross, only for the Dutchman to shoot straight at Vorm when well placed.
The pace of the first half continued into the second period, with Allen and Britton continuing to probe the Arsenal defence.
And it was Allen on 58 minutes who created Swansea's second goal for the Swans when he robbed Ramsey of the ball 30 yards from goal before sending Dyer through on goal with an incisive pass. The speedy winger did the rest, keeping his composure to finish past Szczesny.
This prompted Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger into making changes, and he duly sent on Tomas Rosicky and Thierry Henry to help get the Gunners back into the game.
It proved an inspired move by Wenger. Within ten minutes of the duo's introduction, the visitors drew level. After the Swansea back line were caught ball watching, Theo Walcott broke the offside trap to equalise with a cool finish past Vorm.



But before the cheers of the travelling fans had died down, the Swans restored their lead in this crazy exhilarating contest.
Substitute Gylfi Sigurdsson, making his Premier League debut, played a ball past centre-back Laurent Koscielny for Danny Graham to run onto. Sigurdsson's ball was wide of the Arsenal penalty area, but a hesitant Szczesny could only watch as Graham scored number three for the hosts.
The final minutes saw Arsenal throw everything at the Swans defence, who stood firm to frustrate Rosicky, Koscielny and Walcott with last-ditch defending that saw the side close out the game for a famous victory in breathtaking style.
There were raucous scenes at the final whistle as manager Brendan Rodgers punched the air after the win that lifted Swansea to tenth place.




Player profile
Danny Graham (2011-2013)

Gateshead-born Danny Graham began his football career at Middlesbrough in 2003 but only made 14 first-team starts in four seasons at the club.
During his time at Middlesbrough, he was sent out on loan to gain first-team experience, joining Darlington, Derby County, Leeds United, Blackpool and Carlisle United, before finally moving to the latter club on a permanent basis in 2007.
Graham's time at Brunton Park gave him the chance to play regular first-team football, which helped him flourish to becoming the club's top goalscorer for two successive seasons.
His form in front of goal didn't go unnoticed, and Championship side Watford signed the striker for £350,000 in 2009.
His two years with the Hornets proved a huge success as he topped the Championship goal-scoring charts and was named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year in 2011.
When the Swans won promotion to the Premier League in 2011, manager Brendan Rodgers recognised the need to increase his side's firepower, and a club record fee of £3million was enough to bring Graham to the Liberty.
By the end of his first season in South Wales, Graham could look back on a successful campaign, having scored an impressive 14 goals in all competitions.
Graham scored against West Ham United in Swansea's first home game of the following season, but with the emergence of Spanish forward Michu, he found himself relegated to the substitutes bench for the most part of the season.
After scoring a crucial goal in the away leg of Swansea's Capital One Cup semi-final against Chelsea, Graham opted to sign for Sunderland on deadline day of the January 2013 transfer window in a deal worth £5million.
Upon leaving the Liberty, Graham has spent time on loan at Hull City, Middlesbrough and Wolves but is still on the books of Sunderland, despite having fallen down the pecking order at the Stadium of Light.