Arsenal 4-0 Norwich
The home side started brightly, with Ceballos controlling the tempo in midfield and spraying some cutting through balls down the right hand side to Bellerin, however his final ball wasn’t up to the required standard to create any clear cut chances. Another chance fell to Aubameyang moments later as a quick break led to the clinical striker cutting in from the left hand side, hitting a tame shot at Tim Krul. The Gunners were almost made to pay for their poor finishing as a rare venture forward for the Canaries saw centre back Ben Godfrey hit an absolute rocket, which crashed off the post much to the relief of Emi Martinez. Then in the 31st minute the break through finally came for Arsenal, as Aubameyang charged down Krul and forced him into a mistake and as a result only had to roll the ball into an empty net for his 50th Premier League goal. Arteta’s side has their tails up and were playing some fluid football as a couple of minutes later they were two up when David Luiz found Tierney on the left who slid Aubameyang in on the over-lap, poking the ball to the on rushing Xhaka who hammered the ball into the far post from a tight angle. After a comfortable first 45 minutes Arsenal went into the break 2-0 up.
Daniel Farke’s team came out for the second half with a different mentality, as I can only imagine they were given the ‘hairdryer’ treatment after their display in the opening 45. The sluggish Arsenal defence was there for everyone to see, as straight from the kickoff Norwich created their best chance of the game as Idah turned on the edge of the box and fired a low shot into the corner which was well stopped by Martinez. The Gunners appeared to be coasting in the early stages of the second half, until a horrendous mistake from Drmic gifted Aubameyang his second of the match, as a loose pass played the forward through on goal in which he made no mistake in tucking the ball under the on rushing Krul. With the game all but wrapped up, Arteta decided to hand Cedric Soares his Arsenal debut and it didn’t take long for the Portuguese international to make an impact, as Norwich cleared a corner to the edge of the area with the right back taking a touch with his right foot to set it up for a curling shot with his left foot, which found the side netting. It was one of Arsenal’s best performances of the season and will definitely give them some more confidence going into their tough fixtures in the next couple of weeks.
Player Ratings
Emilio Martinez
Another good Performance, making some vital saves throughout. 6 clean sheets in 7 Premier League starts, not a bad backup keeper. 7/10
Hector Bellerin
Decision making in the final third was frustrating as he was making some excellent runs, but not picking anyone out. Should be worried about Cedric’s debut. 6/10
Skhodran Mustafi
Looked clumsy at times, especially with some of his passes. Weren’t his worst game though. 6/10
David Luiz
Played a great ball to Tierney for the second goal and was quite solid defensively. 7/10
Sead Kolasinac
Doesn’t look very comfortable playing on the left of a back three. Weren’t adventurous enough with some of his passes, however carried the ball up the pitch quite well. 6.5/10
Kieran Tierney
So glad he is fit again, another decent display in which he looked a threat going forward and effective defensively. 7/10
Granit Xhaka
Scored a lovely goal after a Ramsey-esque run. Vital to our midfield. 8/10
Dani Ceballos
Ran the game from start to finish, probably his best performance of the season. Glad to see he is going out on a high, would have been MOTM if Aubameyang hadn’t been involved in three goals. 8.5/10
Reiss Nelson
Didn’t take his opportunity with both hands, struggled to get in the game but when he did it was positive. 6/10
Aubameyang
Was gifted two goals and a player of his quality was never going to miss them chances. Got an excellent assist as well. My MOTM. 9/10
Alexandre Lacazette
Should have had at least one goal, severely lacking in confidence in that department. Link up play was very promising though. 6.5/10
Subs
Rob Holding
Didn’t have loads to do, was good for him to get some more minutes under his belt. 6/10
Cedric Soares
Amazing debut, made some brilliant tackles and scored a screamer. Couldn’t have gone much better. 8/10
Joe Willock
Worked hard to close down the Norwich midfield and almost scored a nice goal. 7/10
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James Humphreys
Gunners Daily 