Soccer: Bob Bradley loses in thrilling EPL debut – Salt Lake Tribune


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London • Arsenal beat Swansea 3-2 in a thrilling game Saturday at Emirates Stadium, handing former U.S. coach Bob Bradley a loss as he became the first American to manage in the English Premier League.

The scale of the task facing Bradley became clearer in a woeful defensive showing from his team. Twice in seven first-half minutes, Swansea created its own downfall, failing to clear the ball. England winger Theo Walcott scored both times from inside the 6-yard box.

Mesut Ozil’s stunning second-half volley ultimately secured a sixth consecutive league victory for Arsenal. Perhaps Bradley could take consolation from the fight his side showed, getting goals from Gylfi Sigurdsson and Borja Baston.













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Swansea’s fourth consecutive league defeat added up to its worst start to a season in any division with just four points from its eight games.

Arsenal, meanwhile, moved even on points with league leader Manchester City, trailing Pep Guardiola’s club on goal difference.

The in-form trio of Alexis Sanchez, Ozil, and Walcott continued to produce the sort of passing and movement that opposing defenses have struggled to cope with. Arsenal made its early territorial dominance pay in the 26th minute as Sanchez’s looping pass found Hector Bellerin on the right of the box. He headed down the ball for Walcott to poke home — only after Jordi Amat and Lukasz Fabianski wasted opportunities to clear.

Seven minutes later, Walcott was celebrating his fifth league goal after Jack Cork was guilty of failing to clear Santi Cazorla’s corner kick.

Arsenal was seemingly on its way to a comfortable victory until carelessness from Granit Xhaka gifted the ball on the edge of his box to Sigurdsson, who expertly found the top corner with a curling left-footed shot in first-half stoppage time.

Arsenal appeared to have put away the visitors when Ozil found the top corner with a sublime volley from Sanchez’s cross to the back post.

But Swansea, inspired by winger Modou Barrow, was not resigned to defeat. Barrow repeatedly burst past Nacho Monreal, and made his dominance over the Arsenal left back count in the 66th, when he centered for substitute Baston to pull Swansea back into the game.

The Barrow show continued as, four minutes later, he was hacked down by Xhaka, who was shown a straight red card by referee Jonathan Moss, completing a highly forgettable afternoon for the midfielder.

With a man advantage and its confidence boosted, Swansea wasted two fine opportunities to equalize. First, Barrow headed Wayne Routledge’s cross straight at keeper Petr Cech, and Sigurdsson failed to convert his cross.











































 



















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