Arsenal vs Swansea City - Wenger desperate not to contract the losing "virus"

Arsene Wenger is looking to record a victory over Swansea on Saturday and avoid the "virus" of Arsenal fans turning against him and his team.

The Swans have a good recent record at the Emirates Stadium, having won there in the past two seasons with their last loss back in 2013.

A 2-1 victory for the visitors in the corresponding game back in February was highlighted by Wenger as the point which ruled Arsenal out of the Premier League title race as supporters turned on the Frenchman and the players.

The response led to Arsenal's all-time record goalscorer Thierry Henry admitting he had "never seen Arsenal supporters that angry" as Wenger's tenure was again called into question.

The defeat followed a 3-2 loss at Manchester United and was followed with a draw in the north London derby at Tottenham, with Wenger pointing to the run as costly as the Gunners ended the campaign in second place, 10 points adrift of champions Leicester.

"We had two low points (last season)," he said.

"The first was to lose at Man United and that was straight before Swansea. We damaged our chances. Last year we had a very negative experience with Swansea who killed our opportunity to win the Premier League.

"We were really criticised a lot after the Tottenham game but we did extremely well.

"With 10 men we came back to 2-2 and played extremely well. But after that we had the negative environment after Swansea."

Arsenal will still without Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey.

The pair were expected to be available after the international break but Wenger has confirmed Giroud (toe) and Ramsey (hamstring) are still short of match fitness.

Francis Coquelin is fit, as is Mesut Ozil, but the game comes too early for Carl Jenkinson (knee) to be involved, with Per Mertesacker and Danny Welbeck (both knee) further away from a return.

Swansea manager Bob Bradley feels he is privileged to be making his bow in English football against Wenger.

The Premier League's newest manager comes up against the division's longest serving of 20 years standing, with former United States boss Bradley believing it ranks alongside any of his achievements in football.

Bradley guided the USA into the last 16 of the 2010 World Cup and also ended Spain's unbeaten 35-game streak on the way to America finishing runners-up at the 2009 Confederations Cup.

But ahead of Swansea's trip to London, Bradley said: "This is up there for me. I don't usually look back on those things and I've had the chance to coach against some pretty big names - (Fabio) Capello, (Vicente) del Bosque - but Arsene is right up there with the top managers.

"To be at a club for 20 years where the football is such a reflection of the man is a fantastic thing.

"Pep Guardiola was speaking about Johan Cruyff last week and his influence about being more than trophies, and if you look at what has happened over 20 years at Arsenal it's the same kind of influence."

Swansea are set to be without Fernando Llorente and Jefferson Montero.

Spain striker Llorente missed Francesco Guidolin's final game against Liverpool two weeks ago with rib and knee injuries, while Ecuador winger Montero has been troubled by a calf problem.

Neither player has taken a full part in training this week, but Bradley has Federico Fernandez available for his Premier League bow with the Argentina central defender fit again after a groin injury.