Story highlights
Arsenal are beaten 3-2 at Swansea on Sunday, their seventh EPL loss of the season
The result leaves Arsenal still in fifth place, but four points behind fourth-placed Chelsea
Danny Graham scores winner for Swansea, a minute after Theo Walcott had equalized
Mark Hughes' QPR still in relegation zone after a 1-0 defeat at Newcastle
Arsenal have lost ground in the race for a Champions League place after they were beaten 3-2 at Swansea in a thrilling English Premier League match on Sunday.
The visitors started brightly and took a fourth-minute lead when Robin van Persie coolly finished Andrey Arshavin’s through-pass for his 18th league goal of the season.
But Swansea leveled 11 minutes later when Scott Sinclair netted from the penalty spot after Aaron Ramsey was adjudged to have brought down Nathan Dyer.
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Swansea took the lead for the first time in the 57th-minute when Joe Allen dispossessed Ramsey and fed the ball through for Dyer to finish on the right of the area.
That was the cue for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to bring on Thierry Henry.
The Frenchman had scored the winning goal against Leeds on Monday and, within six minutes of his arrival, Arsenal were level.
However, it wasn’t Henry on target this time, but the wearer of his old No.14 shirt Theo Walcott, who raced onto Johan Djourou’s pass to dink the ball over goalkeeper Michel Vorm.
But Swansea were not to be denied and, with Arsenal still celebrating their equalizing goal, the home side netted what proved to be the winner.
Substitute Gylfi Sigurdsson’s pass pierced the Arsenal defense and, despite being forced wide, Danny Graham took advantage of hesitancy from goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny to net from an acute angle on the right of the area.
The result leaves Arsenal still in fifth position, but they are now four points behind fourth-placed Chelsea and only ahead of Newcastle in sixth on goal difference.
“I still don’t understand where the referee found the penalty for Swansea, but then defensively we made some mistakes that we should not have done,” Wenger told reporters.
“When it was back at 2-2, we knew we could score a third but in the last two games we have made mistakes that are difficult to explain.”
Meanwhile, Swansea continue to impress in their first-ever season in the Premier League, and they are now up to 10th place, nine points away from the relegation zone.
Sunday’s other match saw Mark Hughes begin his reign as QPR manager with a narrow 1-0 defeat at Newcastle.
Leon Best scored the only goal eight minutes before the break to leave the London side still in the bottom three on 17 points.