Swansea deserved shock win over Arsenal, insists Monk

Garry Monk felt Swansea were rewarded for seizing the initiative as they came from behind to shock Arsenal with a 2-1 victory at the Liberty Stadium.

Alexis Sanchez had fired Arsenal ahead with his 12th goal of the season after 63 minutes but Gylfi Sigurdsson equalised with a brilliant 25-yard minute free-kick, before substitute Bafetimbi Gomis' first Premier League goal three minutes later took Swansea above the Gunners and into the top five.

"They got the goal and you're thinking to yourself what can you do to get back into the game," Swansea manager Monk said after a feisty encounter which saw ten players booked - five from each side.

"Gylfi scored a great free-kick which put us on level par and 1-1. I wanted us to seize the initiative and we grew stronger after we scored the equaliser.

"I felt very confident at that point and Bafe came on to get the winner, you could see the emotion in his celebration as he has been waiting a long time to score a goal like that.

"I think we seized the initiative and against a very dangerous team like Arsenal we deserved the win in the end."

French striker Gomis has been a bit-part player since joining from Lyon on a free transfer last summer with Wilfried Bony filling the central striker role.

But he made an instant impact in front of the jubilant Jacks fans, climbing above Nacho Monreal in the 78th minute and head home the impressive Jefferson Montero's cross.

"No player is happy when they don't play but Bafe's been brilliant," Monk said.

"He's a great guy to have around, he's very much a team man, he puts the team before himself and is very selfless.

"He's been very patient because obviously Bony's done incredibly well for us and has been starting ahead of Bafe.

"But he's done very well in training and got his rewards with the goal, but it was a great team effort.

"We had some unfortunate injuries in the week to some key players but I've talked about the belief in the squad before.

"The players have got that inner belief and mentality and that's what carried them through through.

"You know Arsenal can hurt you at any moment with the attacking players they've got, but we limited them and I thought we did very well."