Arsenal: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Sagna, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Rosicky, Ramsey, Ozil, Podolski, Giroud
Subs: Szczesny, Monreal, Wilshere, Kallstrom, Flamini, Diaby, Sanogo
Arsenal concluded the Premier League season with a fifth consecutive win as they beat Norwich City 2-0 at Carrow Road to consolidate fourth place in the table. Aaron Ramsey and Carl Jenkinson grabbed the goals in the second half as Arsene Wenger’s men took their points tally to 79 points, they’re highest total since 2007/08.
The boss sprang something of a surprise ahead of kick-off opting to rotate a couple of players but certainly not as many as might have been expected ahead of the FA Cup final. At the back Wojciech Szczesny and Per Mertesacker were rested with Lukasz Fabianski starting in goal, his first league appearance of the season, Kieran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson back on full-back duty and Bacary Sagna partnering Laurent Koscielny in the middle. Aside from the returning Tomas Rosicky, starting in place of Santi Cazorla, the midfield and attack were the same that started against West Brom last weekend.
As you might expect from a dead rubber, the game resembled a training exercise from the off. Norwich, needing to win by a bazillion goals to stand any chance of staying up, appeared resigned to their fate while the men in red and white strutted about in second gear making the occasional pass and tackle but little else.
The first shot in anger came on 17 minutes as Redmond stung Fabianski’s palms before Arsenal awoke from their slumber to step up the pace in the pouring rain. In a 20-minute spell that saw Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey pulling the strings with nonchalant ease the Gunners squandered three great chances, John Ruddy first blocking a Podolski effort at close range before making two spectacular stops to deny Giroud.
At the other end Sweden’s answer to Grant Holt, Johan Elmander, did little to win over the frustrated home support as he spectacularly deflected wide a Robert Snodgrass effort with his sizable arse just before the break.
The Gunners continued to press for an opener after the break and within eight minutes finally got their goal. Great work by Olivier Giroud culminated in a fine dinked ball over the Norwich defence where Aaron Ramsey, arriving at the back post, angled a textbook volley into the top corner. The strike was a thing of beauty and a worthy rival to Wilshere’s pass-tastic goal of the season contender against the Canaries back in October. (1-0)
Just past the hour mark, Arsenal doubled their lead. Kieran Gibbs bombed down the left and cut back to Podolski in a crowded box. The German’s effort was deflected into the path of Carl Jenkinson who bobbled home his first ever goal in a Gunners shirt. It wasn’t the prettiest of strikes but as a boyhood Gooner he celebrated like he’d won the World Cup. Good on him. (2-0)
Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby and Yaya Sanogo all got run outs in the aftermath of the goal as Ramsey, Rosicky and Giroud earned breathers before Wembley. The return of Diaby, on his 28th borthday, was greeted by particularly raucous noise by the travelling fans who delighted in reminding the world he once ‘knocked John Terry out’.
In the final 15 minutes Fabianski stopped Norwich’s young striker Loza and did well to close down Snodgrass, Arteta had a deflected free-kick saved and Sanogo, desperately attempting to break his duck, was also denied by the impressive Ruddy.
So a routine victory, seemingly achieved without injury complications, draws a line under another league campaign. It started horrifically, improved dramatically and in the blink of an eye was ripped to shreds. In the end the bare minimum, Champions League qualification, has been achieved but before we analyse whether this season marks progress or not there’s an FA Cup final to look forward to.
What did she wear?
Happy birthday Diaby, nice to see u back
Happy “Borthday” more like
I had better quantify that statement by say there is a typo in the report,
“The return of Diaby, on his 28th borthday”
This has not been helped because apparently a “borthday” is a thing….
I’m curious…what is a borthday? And yes I googled it before asking
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Borthday
Report out even before the match ended? That’s fast!
Wenger to Szczesny
“You only get 1 (f.a final) thats the motto playa yolo!”
Oh dear… this was truly bad..
Aye, seems that the comments section brings out the “RobSchneiderDerpyDerp” in some of our crew.
CARL FOOKIN’ JENKINSON
So happy for him!! Great reception for Diaby as well. If only all our fans were like this
If our away fans could somehow be given mini microphones at home games so they drown out the majority of the poisonous lot at home games I think we’d have the best home crowd in europe.
Looks like he’s been bulking up, good to see. Hope he can step up and become #1 RB, we still need a another for competition and backup.
The support for Diaby was pure class!!
Touching indeed.
Wouldn’t mind taking Ruddy away from Norwich now that Fabianksi’s going!
Gotta love Jenko!
Why couldn’t we bring on Szczesny in the 80-89th minute as a sub and let him have his clean sheet?
Him starting in the final or not is completely irrelevant, would have been a great boost to his confidence and career if he won the golden glove. :/
Oh and good game boys, first half was pretty boring, but they upped it in the 2nd and it was great! Giroud MOTM for me.
Who wins it now they’re level?
Shared
I heard Cech would get it because he played fewer games.
Cech wins it as it goes to the player that has played less games in case of a tie.
Rules say it can’t be shared. The bloke with the head guard gets it as he has played fewer games.
Cech.
SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON!
Let get that fucking trophy, then the campaign will be a success.
what a great goal from ramsey! kudos to jenkinson, he does love arsenal! with regards to wojeich, i would imagine wenger asked him whether he would prefer the golden glove, or an fa cup winners medal and picked the cup…..
Why not both? I mean imagine he already told Fabianski that Woj is starting in the finals, I’m pretty sure Fabianski would be disappointed in not starting the final but would he have really minded going off in the 89th minute to let his fellow countryman get an award? :/
But doesn’t he win it jointly with Petr Cech?
Cech wins on conceding less goals overall
No he doesn’t. In EPL, it can’t be a tie, it goes to the keeper that’s played the least number of games in case of a tie.
So Cech will win it.
But here’s the thing: does anyone give a shit?
Sczc probably cares there blogs
I doubt he really does.
I’m pretty sure he does.
It’s the keepers’ version of the golden boot, and every striker dreams of getting that.
news.arseblog.com/2014/05/szczesny-going-for-gold-at-norwich/
I know it’s a thing and that it exists, but it’s really meaningless.
Szczesny said he was looking forward to it, blogs.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20140505/szczesny-i-d-love-to-win-golden-glove
I suspect if you gave him a choice between the ‘Golden Glove’ and playing in the cup final he’d choose the cup final every time.
But that makes no sense. Why would Wenger play Fabiański today if it wasn’t for the FA Cup? Just so Fab can have the satisfaction of denying Szczesny his award? You don’t really need to rest your goalkeeper.
That’s assuming he plays next week. Hope he does.
I think Fab will play in the final. This game made him match fit. It doesn’t make sense to kill Szczęsny’s golden glove chance to give a game to Fab to say goodbye at an away game. Match fitness is the reason why the boss played Ramsey and Özil for example.
Got to admit, hearing the away fans chanting Diaby’s name brought a tear to my eye. AMAZING support for him!
SHE WORE A YELLLOW RIBBON
Diaby made one typical long strided burst forward and i thought “Errr when did yaya toure join Arsenal???”
Hmm… but if it was typical, why would it remind you of someone else?
Boom.
look at dicks complimenting each other, how cute
My apologies Heroldgoon, didn’t mean to offend. To be honest, Dial Square Charity XI is a pseudonym. I am actually the famous Amaury Bischoff PI.
Burn!
Can diaby not just be diaby without being yaya toure, patrick viera and or wesley snipes?
He was in Snakes on a Plane?
Awesome.
Nope. Neither was Wesley Snipes.
I think you will find that was Laurence Fishburne
If Diaby was to be Sam Jackson in ANY movie, DR, it would have to be Mr. Glass in ‘Unbreakable’
Only if you watched it with Andre Marriner vision.
No, he would have got bitten and out for 6 months with a poisoned leg.
Hilarious goonero hifuckinglarious!
Jenko’s celebrationdoe
You called it blogs. Last season when very few believed Ramsey could be more than a squad player in a team like Arsenal, he has actually shown there is a good player in him. Hoping that there’s a great player in there too. The signs are good.
aaron van basten nuff said :). really hope we get to see a fully fit ramsey and ozil for the whole next season.
I thought Ramsey didn’t play against West Brom?
Ruddy as a potential back-up goalie next season?
He’s 2nd choice for England right now, I doubt he’s going to want to play 2nd fiddle to Szcz. He could be a great signing for a promoted side though.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Fab re-sign…this is he last chance at a WC and could really add to his career by playing here for the cup competitions…his best chance for silverware
Starting for a lesser club even if he is playing regularly It’d be a stretch mentally….some decent team would really have to rate him…I don’t see that…
IN THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY
Aaron Ramsey is a God
Maybe a god
Amazing…arsenal have so many contenders for goal of the season
1 – Wilshere vs Norwich
2 – Rosicky vs Sp*rs
3 – Ramsey vs Norwich
Rosicky Vs Sunderland
Ozil vs Napoli
Ramsey vs Liverpool
Even Ramsey vs Norwich, thinking back. That goal gets underrated because the Wilshere one was in the same game, but his turns whilst bamboozling the defenders were sublime
Honestly speaking, in my mind, there is no comparison to the Wilshere Norwich goal. You don’t see that kind of goal once a decade let alone once a season, because it had the rare combination of team play and the ball being played in the air.
I got the feeling, Jenkinson *WILL* win a world cup… You heard it first here! 🙂
no left foot
Well done, but why deny Scez the golden glove?
He’s going to share it with Cech anyway since Cech was injured so didn’t play today. They both have 16 clean sheets so it made no difference that Szczesny didn’t play.
Just read up on it and apparently it goes to the keeper with the best games to clean sheet ratio so it will unfortunately be going to Cech.
there probably is a minimum number of games criteria on top of that. if not someone who plays one game and keeps a clean sheet wins because he has a 100% record
Cech wins it outright due to less goals conceded and less games played.
logical that is strange as t is more imressive when you have played more games for sure.. ver strange if it goes to te player With the fewest games…. It is like two players has scored 20 goals and the top goal scorer oes to the one With the most games… Strange
How is it strange? 16 in 37 or 16 in 32? Obviously the percentage is higher for the lower number of appearances.
she wore a yellow ribbon! 😀
stupid to bench szczesney , I wanted him to get the golden glove and fabianski to play im the final (which he really deserves)
didnt chelsea conceed? so here’s my question, on equal clean sheets, but with unequal games does it go to the 1 who played most games or least in this situation?vim wondering if its the same as top scorer or reversed
It goes to the least.
Think of it this way, if you’ve played 10 games and kept 10 clean sheets, do you deserve the award or someone who has played 12 and managed only 10 clean sheets. Logically you deserve it, and that’s the way it is.
Do not question the manager & call his decisions ‘stupid’. Would you like it if I called your choices stupid?
We are the famous arsenal and were going to Wembley!! Let’s win the cup and it will be a successful season!
Congrats to Man City, deserved it this year and rather you than CSKA Chelski and Liverpool, enjoy it this year cos we’re coming for you next season!
Classy Arsenal players, Manager, and Supporters. Trophy or no trophy at the end of day still wear my shirt (from 5 seasons ago;) with pride.
COYG’s
AND WHEN! I ASKED! HER WHY SHE WORE THAT RIBBON…
SHE SAID IT’S FOR THE ARSENAL AND WE’RE GOING TO WEMBLEY!
WEMBLEY!! WEMBLEY!!
When Ken goes up to lift the Littlewoods Cup, we’ll be there, we’ll be there…
Awesome dribbling by wilshere and Diaby when they came on, especially when Diaby was sarounded but somehow managed to get out.
In the last four year sp*rs have finished above every Premiership team…….apart from Arsenal!!
Forever in our shadow!!!
And . . . . apart from Man City
Man City finished 5th in 2009-10 while Spurs were 4th.
This is hilarious stat.
Knickers. She wore knickers.
On another note I reckon this means Fab is playing the final and Wenger wanted to make sure he was as sharp as possible. And it should be him playing as he got us there!
Even the Norwich supports were applauding Ramsey’s volley. Right goal!
Is AW trying to get Fab sign-on by playing him in a league match as well as (probably) FA Cup final!
It would be good to see Fabianski stay especially after having made the transition from Flap-iankski with us
Fabianski wants to be No.1(which he deserves), Szczesny is No.1.
Golden glove would of done wonders for his confidence. Just doesn’t make sense
and amazing support for diaby. What an amazing moment
Would have. Would’ve.
Not would of.
I’m sorry, I just can’t stand that term “would of”. My son is starting to speak like that and it grinds my gears.
Would have or would’ve. Pick one.
With Ramsey not going to the World Cup / compared to our rivals we will be one of the few teams next season where our key player would have had the summer off
I’ve been led to beleive that the answer to your question “what did she wear?” is a “yellow ribbon”. Further reports suggest she was asked why she wore that ribbon, to which she supposedly replied “It’s for The Famous Arsenal, and we’re going to Wembley”.
Good job Gunners! easy peasy win. But, I was wondering where Serge Gnabry and Thomas Esfeld vanished. Now get the FA Cup please….
Congrats! City & Pelligrini. Calm and dignified fellow. Not someone who shoots off his mouth. Oh! forgot Chelski won Zilch, nada, zero, and Shunya in Hindi…Ha Ha..
Get 4-5 players quickly and let’s fight for the title next season…COYG!
WHAT DID SHE WEAR ?
See through yoga pants?
Didn’t know Kate Bush watches The Arsenal.
Intriguing.
Mourinho , specialist in failure!
I’ve been waiting all year to say that, but I’ll wait for another six days just to be sure. But it’s hard! I so badly want to put up a post “Okay, Moronho, who’s the specialist in failure now, you hypocritical bastard? Trophies in 13-14: ARSENAL 1-0 Chel$ki. Now fuck off!”
10 ahead of Spurs, 15 ahead of United. Would have taken that at the start of the year.
At the start of the year I bet a United-supporting mate a pint of beer that we’d finish above United. He laughed and offered me a pint a point on the difference. Sadly, I chickened out.
Surely if Chech has played fewer games then Sir Chez should get it. He could have kept 5 clean sheets in a row then let in loads of goals for the rest of the season. That makes no sense to me.
does Giroud get a medal for being a keypart in two season contender goals?
Jenkinson have make some improvement…mybe he know he gonna replce sagna next year..1 more thing,how a great plyer diaby althought he play for a few mnutes
Jenkinson 🙂
Got to be pleased for Jenks. Great to see. I’m also giving Diaby 10/10 in the ratings for getting on the pitch. Who’s with me?
it would be an absolute waste to let Bacary leave…even if it was over 30k per week,
*their highest total since 2007/08.
Sir Chesney must be playing in the FA Cup final otherwise surely he would have played today to get the golden glove?
Kudos to the fans who kept chanting Diaby’s name out loud, if there’s anything the lad needed after all that he’s been through was some Gooner love. Cmon Abou, earn that extension!!