Saturday's 4-0 win over Swansea will convince few that Arsenal's problems are behind them, but the way Arsene Wenger's side efficiently dispatched their opponents will at least be a comfort, after recent questionable performances and results.

The final score was comprehensive and could have been more, even if Arsenal had a few slices of luck and were perhaps lucky to not be behind at half time. Strikes from Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez sandwiched two own goals, forced by Alex Iwobi, as the Gunners picked up their first away league win since early December.

New Swansea manager Paul Clement stalked the touchline, his long black coat giving him the air of an avuncular undertaker, trying to ward off the sense of doom at the Liberty Stadium. In the early stages he actually had some encouragement. Swansea didn't look like a team floundering at the grim end of the table, and with a new manager, passing the ball with calm assurance and purpose.

Arsenal, on the other hand, seemed jittery. Granit Xhaka and Laurent Koscielny both gave the ball away dangerously in the early stages, while at one point Iwobi needlessly chipped a back-pass to Petr Cech from midway inside his own half. Their only effort of any substance in the first half an hour was a Sanchez shot that Lukasz Fabianski dealt with easily.

Nevertheless, Swansea couldn't turn promising play into a goal, and as is often inevitable in these circumstances, Arsenal look the lead a few minutes before half time. A cross from Sanchez on the left found Mesut Ozil in space, his header was blocked but Giroud was there, untroubled by any distant markers, to stab the ball home.

Just before half-time, Swansea howled for a penalty when Ki Sung-Yueng went down in the box under a challenge from Koscielny, but the Korean received a yellow card for diving rather than a spot kick. It was tough to tell even from replays whether the call was harsh, but Ki did appear to be making his way to ground before he encountered the Arsenal defender.

Arsenal looked much more threatening after the break and controlled the game from the start of the half. Aaron Ramsey went close before Iwobi dragged a shot across goal from the right; it ballooned off Jack Cork's foot and sailed over Fabianski. Arsenal's second-half play deserved the goal, even if the strike itself was extremely fortunate.

It was a similar routine for the third, this time from the left. Iwobi jinked towards goal, shifted onto his left foot and again dragged a shot, heading wide, before Kyle Naughton diverted the ball past his own goalkeeper. On the touchline, Clement cursed the heavens.

A fourth came not long after, as the ball popped up in the area for Sanchez, who spun and volleyed home. The rest of the game was played out in the manner of two teams completing formalities, the only notable events being Sanchez juggling in open play, just inside the centre-circle, and the return of Danny Welbeck, on as a substitute for his first league appearance since May.

2. Giroud shows his worth, but do questions remain?

Giroud has found the net in every league game he's started this season, which includes late equalisers in draws at Manchester United and Bournemouth.

In terms of simple goal-scoring, Giroud's season so far is a relatively emphatic argument against his critics, in terms of quantity and importance of goals. There's still a sense that unless Arsenal play in a specific way, he can be a passenger, but when they do work to his strengths the results are fairly clear, at the moment anyway.

And yet there's still the nagging feeling that Arsenal look better with Sanchez in the centre-forward role. His goals mean it would be very brave to drop Giroud at the moment, but they looked more threatening earlier in the season, when he was confined to the bench, and indeed, after he went off in this game, Sanchez's movement creating holes for others to exploit.

It's a curious position for Wenger to find himself in. In the short term, injury might make his decision for him: Giroud was withdrawn early in the second half, having been limping for long spells and at one point having to persuade Wenger to leave him on.

But in the future, Wenger will have to decide if Giroud is the option, or simply an option.
 

3. Plenty of work for Paul Clement

What has Clement learned from his first couple of weeks at Swansea? A quick summary would be that there is plenty to do, but also that hope is not lost.

This is a Swansea side who have struggled badly after the sale of Ashley Williams, and the accepted wisdom is that survival will depend on a shrewd transfer window. Winger Luciano Narsingh, a new arrival from PSV Eindhoven, was introduced to the crowd before the game, while Tom Carroll and Martin Olsson could be signed from Tottenham and Norwich, respectively, next week.

But even without any new faces, Clement would have been given some encouragement from not only their win against Crystal Palace last time out, but the performance in the early stages here.

Swansea played well until they reached the final third, with considered build-up play offering some hope that better things might be ahead. Their problem came in creating clear-cut chances, and on this occasion that looked like an issue with confidence. Having made it to a certain point of the pitch, they seemed too keen to play a pass backwards than forwards. They were largely limited to shots from outside the area, shots they took tentatively.

The defence is clearly a big problem too, the spot where Williams once was now a yawning hole in their backline. But even then, organising a defence is perfectly possible, even in a short amount of time, especially if more experienced recruits arrive this month.

Hull's win over Bournemouth meant the Swans slipped to bottom of the Premier League, but they're just about still in touch with survival. This defeat was chastening, but there is still a flicker of hope.