Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal were ‘on edge’ before beating Swansea City

Arsene Wenger has confessed that Arsenal were anxious ahead of their clash with Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium before recording a fifth successive Premier League win.

Arsenal coasted to a 3-0 victory after Olivier Giroud had opened the scoring early on in the second half - the 2,000th goal of Wenger's 19-year reign - but the opening 45 minutes was certainly no easy ride for the Gunners, as the hosts threatened to inflict more misery on the Gunners.

The Swans took six points off Arsenal last season, but the north London outfit coped with the early pressure from Garry Monk's men and ensured that there would be no repeat of last term's agony.

"It's always a difficult game here and last season they took six points from us," Wenger said.

"We were a bit edgy coming here and the first half was very difficult for us.

"But in the second half there was tempo to our game and after we scored the first goal we were a different team.

"I rested eight players on Tuesday (in the Capital One Cup defeat at Sheffield Wednesday) so it took us a while to get into the tempo of the game."

There was controversy with Arsenal's second goal, scored by Laurent Koscielny after 68 minutes. The Frenchman appeared to back into Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski when Hector Bellerin's cross was deflected into the air.

Fabianski was also challenged by Giroud, but referee Kevin Friend felt no offence had been committed, leaving Koscielny to stab the loose ball home.

"I didn't see a foul, maybe I missed something and need to watch it," Wenger said.

"The three points was the most important thing today and it was good to keep a clean sheet.

"It was a different game after we scored the first goal."