Arsenal 4-0 Norwich City – Arsenal stroll to a win at the Emirates against bottom of the table Norwich City thanks to a double from top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who is closing on the Premier League golden boot, a goal from Granit Xhaka, and a debut goal from Cedirc Soares who scored just four minutes in to Gunners debut after coming on as a substitution, as a careless Norwich City side look to be all but relegated to the Championship after another poor performance.
First half:
The opening stages of the game were largely dominated by Arsenal in terms of possession as you would expect, however, the closest either side came to opening the scoring was the visitors Norwich City when Ben Godfrey let fly from long range and unfortunately struck the post in what would have been a spectacular goal by the Norwich City centre back who came within inches of giving the Canaries a shock lead at the Emirates.
The opening goal of the game came when Norwich City goalkeeper Tim Krul uncharacteristically was guilty of failing to get rid of the ball and was caught by Arsenal top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who took advantage of the opportunity and scored his 18th goal of the season and his 50thfor the club to give Arsenal the breakthrough in the 33rdminute.
Four minutes later and the Gunners were 2-0 in front when midfielder Granit Xhaka was set up by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang inside the box to shoot through the legs of Tim Krul as Arsenal began to take full control of the match after a very well worked goal.
Norwich City did come close to pulling a goal back just before half time when Kenny McLean’s free kick was well saved by Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez who was continuing to do a good job between the sticks in the absence of the injured Bernd Leno.
A couple of promising moments for Norwich City from long range efforts in the first half, however, in a familiar story for the Canaries this season they were losing as Arsenal went in to the half time break with a fairly comfortable 2-0 lead.
Second half:
It was the visitors Norwich City who had the first opportunity of the second half when substitute Adam Idah nearly made an instant impact when his low down shot had to be smartly saved once again by Emiliano Martinez who was having a solid game in goal for the Gunners denying Norwich City at every opportunity.
Arsenal had a rather quiet opening 20 minutes to the second half then added a third goal in the 67th minute when half timeNorwich City substitute Josip Drmic carelessly played a pass to Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who made no mistake in slotting the ball in to the net as Aubameyang had his second goal of the game given to him courtesy of a Norwich City error.
The icing was put on the cake for Arsenal in the 81st minute when on loan right back Cedric Soares made it 4-0 to Arsenal on his debut with a very well hit left footed strike from outside of the box which flew past Tim Krul in to the corner as Arsenal capped off what was in the end a very good day as surely now Norwich City look as though they will once again be playing Championship football next season after another defeat.
Full time
Man of the match:
Dani Ceballos – The Arsenal midfielder who is on loan from Real Madrid played one of his best games for a very long time in a Gunners shirt in an all-round very impressive display in the middle of the park, a performance that Arsenal fans would love to see more of from Ceballos.
Fascinating facts:
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang becomes the fastest Arsenal player to reach 50 Premier League goals for Arsenal having achieved it in just 79 appearances since signing in January 2018.
Granit Xhaka continues his record having never lost a game which he has scored in for the Gunners.
Cedric Soares scores his first Premier League goal since December 2018 when he scored for Southampton in a 2-2 draw with Manchester United at St Mary’s.
Cedric Soares becomes the first Arsenal defender to score on his Premier League debut since Thomas Vermaelen in August 2009 in a 1-6 win away at Everton.
Arsenal score 4 goals in a Premier League game for only the second time this season with the other being in a 4-0 home win against Newcastle United on February 16th.
Norwich City have only scored one Premier League away goal in 2020.
Norwich City haven’t scored a first half Premier League away goal from open play since December when Teemu Pukki scored away at Leicester City in a 1-1 draw.
Norwich City have only scored 6 away Premier League goals all season which is five fewer than the next worst team which is Watford.
Talking points:
Norwich City punished for individual errors – Arsenal scored 4 goals in the game but there is no denying that two of them goals were gift wrapped for them by Norwich City thanks to individual errors from Tim Krul and Josip Drmic. Being let down by individual errors and being poor defensively has been the story of Norwich City’s season and is a massive reason why the Canaries sit bottom of the Premier League.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang faster to 50 goals than the great Thierry Henry – Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored his 50th goal for the Gunners today since signing for the club in January 2018 Aubameyang now has 51 goals in just 79 appearances. Aubameyang even managed to score 50 Premier League goals in four less games than club legend Thierry Henry which is some achievement.
A dream debut for Cedric Soares – Cedric Soares, who recently had his loan deal extended from Southampton made his Gunners debut against Norwich City and likely was just sent on to see the game out and get some minutes behind him, however, the right back not only got the minutes behind him, he topped off his debut with a fantastic goal and one that he could only have dreamed of scoring just four minutes in to his debut for the Gunners.
Norwich City getting closer to Championship football next season – It seems only a matter of time until Norwich City’s relegation is confirmed from the Premier League after another convincing loss, the Canaries were only being promoted to the Premier League last season when they won the Championship, Norwich City look like a team who are going down unless a miracle happens and the results go their way in the remaining games.
Back to back Premier League wins for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta – Arsenal began the restart with back to back defeats away at both Manchester City and Brighton, however, the Gunners have responded by now defeating both Southampton (A) and Norwich City (H) being wins that it feels like Arsenal most certainly needed to get back on track after the restart, there is still no doubt Arsenal will need a big transfer window, but this performance felt like a step in the right direction for the Gunners who could still make a Europa League place at the end of the season.
Sam’s match reports 