Neither Swansea City nor Arsenal were able to find the net during the opening 45 minutes of their FA Cup tie at the Liberty Stadium this afternoon.

It was a half of few clear goalscoring chances, with both sets of defenders proving to be the dominant forces.

The first opportunity of note went the way of Swansea with 13 minutes played. Lone striker Danny Graham shrugged off the attentions of Per Mertesacker, but his shot from 25 yards out was palmed to safety by Wojciech Szczesny in the Arsenal goal.

The away side's best chance fell to Santi Cazorla, but his shot from the edge of the area following a cross by Kieran Gibbs went over the crossbar with 35 minutes gone.

Just one minute later the Swans went close to breaking the deadlock as former Arsenal defender Kyle Bartley rose highest inside the area, but only succeeded in heading Jonathan de Guzman's free kick against the bar.