Premier League: Swansea City 3 Arsenal 2

Swansea maintained its strong form at the Liberty Stadium with an upset 3-2 victory over Arsenal on Sunday in the English Premier League.

Arsene Wenger’s side may have found an early opening through captain Robin van Persie.

But Aaron Ramsey marked a miserable return to Wales by conceding a penalty to allow Swansea to draw level through Scott Sinclair on 16 minutes, before losing possession in the build up to Nathan Dyer’s second-half strike.

While Theo Walcott’s sublime finish on 69 minutes temporarily restored parity, an equally impressive Danny Graham strike just a minute later secured the three points for Swansea and dealt a significant blow to Arsenal’s Champions League qualification hopes.

Graham – scorer of a brace in last Saturday’s FA Cup victory over Barnsley – kept his place in the starting XI, with Scott Sinclair returning to join Dyer on the flanks and Michel Vorm recalled in goal.

Arsene Wenger opted to keep Thierry Henry on the bench, despite the Frenchman’s goalscoring exploits last Monday on his Arsenal return against Leeds.

Instead, Andrey Arshavin maintained his place, starting alongside Walcott and captain Van Persie in an attacking trio. In midfield, Yossi Benayoun joined Ramsey and Alex Song, with Mikel Arteta missing out due to a knee injury.

Despite Swansea’s much-praised defensive home record, Arsenal took the lead with ease after five minutes. Arshavin’s perfectly weighted through ball found Van Persie as he peeled off Steven Caulker, and the Dutchman delayed his initial touch to create space before rifling past Vorm.

If marauding forward runs from Sinclair and Kemy Agustien showed the home side’s intent to draw quickly level, then uncertain defending from Laurent Koscielny and Ignasi Miquel suggested there would be opportunity.

As Swansea penetrated the opposition box for the first time in the game, Ramsey was caught out by Dyer’s clever turn, with the Wales captain fouling the 24-year-old to concede the spot kick.

Sinclair duly dispatched his fourth penalty of the season to restore parity after 15 minutes.

Ramsey nearly made an immediate mends when he skilfully manoeuvred his way through the Swans back line before rounding Vorm and crossing, but Angel Rangel was on hand to deflect the ball away from an open goalmouth and back into the stopper’s arms.

Brendan Rogers’ side continued to match the Gunners, but clear openings were presenting themselves to the visitors. Benayoun’s cross-field pass found Van Persie in acres of space, but the striker’s first touch was a shade too heavy, allowing Vorm to find the angle and make a clever stop.

Undeterred, the home side bubbled away on the cusp of Arsenal’s final third, with Dyer proving problematic to the out-of-position Miquel.

He cut inside past the Spaniard from the right, but could only fire his effort straight at Wojciech Szczesny.

The away side emerged for the second period looking to begin much like it did the first. Walcott and Van Persie linked up well early on, but the wide man could not keep his effort on target when through on goal.

Miquel then whipped a tantalizing ball across the face of goal, but neither Van Persie nor Walcott were willing to gamble and the chance came to nothing.

Arsenal maintained possession, however, and the play worked its way to Arshavin on the edge of the box. But the Russian produced a miserable effort, despite no immediate obstacle in front of him.

While shots from distance from Dyer and Joe Allen early in the second half drifted wide of the post, the same duo would make no mistake with the Swans’ third chance.

Ramsey was again at fault, losing out to Allen far too easily. He found Dyer’s drifting run into the box and, while the winger’s initial touch may have been poor, his second rifled the ball past Szczesny to give Swansea the lead.

Wenger reacted quickly, introducing Henry and Tomas Rosicky in place of Arshavin and Benayoun respectively.

The French boss got the response he needed, albeit from two different players. Johan Djourou timed his ball for Walcott perfectly, and the 22-year-old produced a finish to match as he beat the offside trap laid by Neil Taylor.

Yet if Arsenal’s reply had been quick, Swansea’s was supersonic. Debutant Gylfi Sigurdsson, introduced at half-time in place of Agustien, found the run of Graham in behind Koscielny.

The former Watford man exploited some questionable positioning from Szczesny to finish from a tight angle and restore the home side’s lead 20 minutes from time.

A late effort from Koscielny failed to threaten as the Welsh side held on for the win, with Arsenal continuing to stutter on the brink of the top four.

The win marks another milestone on the newly promoted side’s incredible journey – nine years ago on Sunday Swansea was bottom of the Football League, while the Gunners were top of the pile.