Swansea condemn Arsenal to seventh defeat

Arsenal FC are four points behind the Premier League's top four clubs after succumbing to a 3-2 defeat at Swansea AFC, while Newcastle United FC completed another victory against Queens Park Rangers FC.

Though the Gunners took an early lead when Robin van Persie raced on to Andrey Arshavin's pass to score his 18th league goal of the season, Scott Sinclair's 16th-minute penalty and Nathan Dyer's breakaway strike 12 minutes after the interval gave the impressive Swans, who were playing in the second tier last season, the lead.

Arsène Wenger's charges briefly restored parity through Theo Walcott, but it took Swansea less than 60 seconds to rebuild an advantage, Danny Graham finishing off a swift counterattack to lift his side up to tenth in the table.

Earlier in the day, Newcastle moved level on 36 points with Arsenal thanks to a fourth victory in five competitive matches. Leon Best's first-half strike was enough to take the hosts above Liverpool FC and ruin Mark Hughes' first game in charge as QPR manager.