Arsene Wenger: 'Swansea City deserve a lot of credit'

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has praised Swansea City ahead of this afternoon's FA Cup meeting between the pair.

Wenger believes that although current manager Michael Laudrup is getting the plaudits, Swansea's structure has been in place for years.

"They are a team who have already shown last year that they have a good technical level, that they can adapt," Wenger told Arsenal's official website.

"They have coped very quickly with the Premier League and they tend to buy well as they've shown again this season with players like Michu. They lost Brendan Rodgers in the summer but they took Laudrup who is doing very well.

"Before him they had Roberto Martinez, so they always find the right guy to replace the manager who is leaving. They have made intelligent decisions. Therefore they deserve a lot of credit."

Swansea beat Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in December. Today's game takes place at the Liberty Stadium at 1.30pm.