Arsenal absolutely battered Swansea City in the second half, but the home side found a way to hang on and take a 2-2 draw in a brilliant FA Cup third round tie at the Liberty Stadium.
Michu opened the scoring for Swansea, with literally his first touch after coming on in the second half, before another substitute Lukas Podolski equalized with a wonderful strike. Kieran Gibbs looked to have given Arsenal the win, but Danny Graham took advantage of some poor Gunners defending off a setpiece to force a replay.
The first half began as expected with both teams keeping the ball well, making a lot of passes in midfield, while there was little to brag about for either side in the final third.
Former Gunner Kyle Bartley came closest, striking the crossbar with his head off a freekick from Jonathan De Guzman.
The second half was exactly the opposite of the second, with Arsenal absolutely playing Swansea out of the park from kickoff. After Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud, who had a good game, forced a couple of saves from the excellent Michel Vorm, Swansea took the lead completely against the run of play in the 58th minute.
A long ball saw Nathan Dyer flick the ball towards his forward line of Michu and Graham. Laurent Koscielny come out and unnecessarily challenged for the ball, with Per Mertesacker, in turn, caught out of position, which Michu gladly took advantage of before almost shinning the ball past Wojciech Szczesny.
Arsenal did not lose heart, and created chance after chance, as Swansea, a side brilliant in possession, kept giving away the ball, time after time, under pressure from the away side.
Giroud had a nice chance to equalize, but headed wide after finding space behind Chico Flores inside the box. Theo Walcott, almost playing as a second striker, then had a brilliant chance, but uncharacteristically skewed his shot wide, with just the goalkeeper to beat.
Arsenal kept pressing, and everyone in the stadium knew an equalizer was coming, with Podolski landing the crucial blow. A corner was kept alive by Bacary Sagna and then Koscielny, with the ball falling perfectly for Podolski to swivel and take a first time shot into the corner of the net in the 81st minute.
Arsenal's second goal was well worthy of a winner. Gibbs played a one-two with Giroud, who chipped the ball perfectly onto the path of Gibbs to strike a brilliant first time volley past Vorm - the goal was very similar to the one scored by Podolski in the Champions League game against Montpellier earlier this season.
The Gunners looked to be on their way to the fourth round with seven minutes remaining following the goal, but Graham struck with three minutes left. A corner was cleared poorly by Podolski, with the ball falling to Ki Sung-yueng at the far post; the South Korean calmly played to ball to Graham alongside him, with the striker smashing the ball into the roof of the net.
Arsenal nearly won it in the final moments, but Vorm brilliantly kept out a header from Koscielny from close range, ensuring the two teams would meet again, this time at the Emirates, for a replay.
