Result: Norwich 0 – 5 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 26 December 2021
Venue: Carrow Road
Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Xhaka, Partey, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Lacazette
Subs: Leno, Tavares, Mari, Elneny, Patino, Lokonga, Pepe, Smith Rowe, Nketiah
Arsenal cruised to an impressive win away against Norwich despite missing all their right backs due to Covid-19.
Saka and Tierney put the Gunner ahead in the first half while Saka, Lacazette and Smith Rowe scored the team’s third, fourth and fifth goal in the second half to further Arsenal’s grip on fourth place.
Pre-Match
Arsenal were sensational in their last league game against Leeds and Arteta was looking for some continuity in the line-up to provide another positive performance.
It was another unchanged side from the Leeds game save for Tomiyasu’s absence at right back. The Japanese international tested positive for Covid-19 and so were the other alternatives at right back – Cedric and Maitland-Niles.
In his place, Ben White took up the right back spot while Holding played in centre defence next to Gabriel. Highly rated youngster, Charlie Patino, also made the bench.
First Half
It was a gloomy afternoon at Carrow Road and the pace of the game during the opening minutes reflected the weather – slow and tentative from both teams as they felt each other out. That was typified by Ozan Kabak dribbling out to the right side of midfield only to get dispossessed by Tierney who looked to move up a gear.
The Scotsman started the counter and a lovely exchange down the left which soon found the ball at Saka’s feet. Saka cut in from the right and calmly passed the ball into bottom corner. Just like that, Arsenal were a goal up within 5 minutes. 0-1 Arsenal
Arsenal kept the home side at bay, Gabriel and Holding, repelling all balls with Ramsdale shoring up behind him. It became such a walk in the park that Xhaka had to raise the temperature with a feisty tackle just to add some spice to the game. Just as the Norwich players were waking up to the fight, the Gunners deflated the home crowd with a second just before half time.
Martinelli dropped back all the way down on the right side of midfield to dispossess a Norwich player. They moved the ball to Odegaard in the centre who spotted a rampaging Tierney run down the left. The left back received the inch perfect pass and lashed in a shot to the far post for his first goal of the season. 0-2 Arsenal
A just result in the first half for a dominant display by Arsenal. Odegaard looked especially inspired, picking up the ball in between the lines and threatening with his balletic infield dribbles and disguised through balls to the feet of his forwards. The attacking midfielder was at his graceful best in the first half and was untouchable as he provided the assist for both goals.
Second Half
Looking to match Arsenal’s quality, Norwich came out of the locker room with a desire to pass at a faster pace but were struggling to perform at the required level. Their passes were consistently going astray and the Gunners only had to wait patiently until the ball returned to their possession.
If Odegaard was the standout Gunner in the first half, the second belonged to Martinelli. The Brazilian constantly tormented Aarons down the flank with his direct wing play and aggressive pressing. Aarons couldn’t keep up with his high octane performance.
Though despite Martinelli’s dominance, it was Saka’s more subtle style which moved Arsenal further ahead on the 66th minute.
Arsenal’s patient build up had Norwich sitting back passively, giving Saka space on the right side when he had the ball. He needed no second invitation as he curled the ball into the far corner again to make it 0-3 to Arsenal.
The away side wrapped up the game with two more goals to push their dominance on a poor Norwich side. The fourth goal was a penalty scored by Lacazette after he was bundled over after receiving a delicious reverse pass from substitute, Smith Rowe. 0-4 to Arsenal.
And in the latter minutes, it was Smith Rowe’s turn to score as he latched onto a deflected Pepe shot at the far post to make it 0-5 to Arsenal.
It’s been awhile since we’ve seen Arsenal put weaker teams to the sword so it was great to see the team develop good habits again. On to Wolves on Tuesday!
ESR barely needs a shower these days after collecting his customary goal to stay top scorer.
He sees Saka catching up to him so he’s gotta keep his numbers up to stay ahead haha
His goal-to-minutes ratio for December must be phenomenal.
🎶🎶🎶And The Smith scores on
Just like my love everlasting🎶🎶🎶
How Soon is NOW?”
The Smith goes,Smith goes on!!! 🎶🎵🎼
Made my day 🤩
Made my day, thanks Gooner🤩
our kids are fuckin mad i love you kids
headlines will go to saka and ode and rightly so but my word i love Gabi martinelli. so much energy and never moans, and my word how many times did he win the ball back? what a guy, absolutely deserves his starting place which is mad considering how good ESR has been. god i love having these problems.
oh no I said my word twice silly of me, it’s ok we won 5-0
My word!
I still think ESR deserves the starting role as good as martinelli is. ESR provides better link up on top of goalscoring but its working right now with this lineup
ESR definitely deserves a starting role. So does Martinelli, Ø and Saka though. Wouldn’t change a single player in the front four right now, except for necessary rotation (which I do expect we’ll see for the Wolves game).
I imagine ESR will start versus wolves
All 3 of them great role models to other youngsters – no off the field bullshit or getting too big for their boots.
Odegard is an absolute delight to watch. Time seems to slow down when he’s got the ball at his feet yet he seems to be playing the game about 5 seconds ahead of everyone else on the pitch. Must be some weird Norsk magic.
He’s a world class talent. Still needs to learn alot but its scary to think he’s ONLY 22..
23 now actually, wish him a happy belated birthday.
Happy birthday Ode, you classy beauty.
Yeah, he was good today but one of the things he needs to learn is to stop giving the ball away with little flicks and hospital balls to his own defenders.
every time they go younger it keeps getting better. now martinelli. its amazing. balogan, patino and others on the way. AMN seems like the old bag of Hale End.
Oh! to be a gunner
Saka and emil smith roweeeee !!!
Goal difference we are coming for you.
We need to change that chant to Saka, Martinelli, Smith-Rowe
Here we goooah, Saka-Marti-Ode-Lac-Rowe.
Saka-Marti-Ode-Laca-Tomi-Rambo-Kieran-Rowe
Been a long time since I’ve liked an Arsenal team this much!
Gabriel deserves way more credit for his impact too
Would work ok as “Martinelli……Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe”.
18 goal diff swing since the loss to city
Full credit to the Arsenal, but how poor were Norwich?
Did they even get a shot on target?
Yeah that Pachreta (?) guy hit one in from the left in the first half, Ramsdale caught it.
More then one, accorrding to fotmop.. cant remember them tbh
Haha thought the same. They look like they’re already preparing for the Championship again.
But how nice it is to see the Arsenal absolutely batter the weaker sides.
Too right. I always enjoy a decent stuffing at Christmas.
They’re the worst team in the league but we still played some excellent football. Other teams may have settled for a 2-0.
I fully believe that we did settle for 2-0, but Norwich we just that bad we ended up with 5 somehow
Now that’s the kind of result we love to see. Thank you for the perfect Boxing Day treat Arsenal!
Hahaha yessssss I love a stonking big win and clean sheet. 5-0 ahhhh so satisfying let’s get smashed again ho ho ho
Everything’s coming up milhouse!!
I really love Norwich.
Apparently all their players tested positive after the game
It’s about time we started flogging weak teams convincingly.
Nice one.
Now that was bloody impressive, well done lads. And we barely got out of second gear, that is how bad Norwich were 🤭
You know what…?
… Partey was good
All those who have been moaning about Partey will understand how essential he is to this team when he’s off for the African cup. Even when he plays average he is still out best midfielder by far.
Tierney very good today, even apart from the goal. The decision to prefer Tavares a few weeks ago seems more and more quixotic.
It was a mix of Tierney’s bad start to the season, him recovering from injury and Tavares’ good form…was never a doubt in my mind that Kieran would recover his place within too long.
Who knows whether Nuno’s spark of form didn’t give our Kieran a bit of a rocket up the jacksie?
Tierney was well below par in the early part of the season (even once our form started improving). Tavares impressed when he came into the team, it gave KT the push that he looked like he really needed, and he’s been quality again since being recalled. Not a strange decision at all all the way things have played out since.
Don’t moan. The competition is great for Arsenal FC.
Thumbed you down for “quixotic”
I extended you the same courtesy
Say what? 🙂
What a wonderful word quixotic is! While it is most often used to mean equally impractical and idealistic, it also has the sense of romantic nobility. Its source is from the great Spanish novel “Don Quixote,” whose title character is given to unrealistic schemes and great chivalry.
Just thought someone was going for the “Google it” call to action? 🙂
Perfect Boxing Day treat. Enjoyed the game with my gooner friends. Oh, incidentally most of my friends happen to be gooners. Haha! Onwards and upwards!
That Smith Rowe no look pass. That Martinelli control ball with his back.
That Odegard nutmeg.
That Saka.. he should shoot more.
So, so much to love with this team!
Xhaka did the back control I believe !
Are there still any sad doom-mongers who claim Martin is øverrated?
He is just dominating games now, what a bargain and what a player.
Yeah – staggering to think we paid more money for Mustafi!
Who?
They’ll undoubtedly pop their heads out when the team inevitably fails to win convincingly (whenever that may be!), but boy oh boy are they running out of ammunition.
Another win and yet once again there are still people who are more interested in moaning about the (often non-existent) “moaners”.
It’s incredibly insecure and the irony seems to be lost on you.
Probably the same people who wanted Arteta sacked after Everton. Which was only 20 days ago.
Not really buddy. The portion of this fanbase who have wanted Arteta to be dismissed have felt that way because of more long-term issues with his management.
I’d even say they’re more consistent and less reactive in their opinions than others in the fanbase.
That Everton defeat was just another continuing trend in Arteta’s management of not delivering at key stages of the season.
Had we salvaged something against Utd and Everton, our 4th place position would be better cemented and less reliant on teams below us not winning their games in hand.
He’s as smooth as silk that lad
He’s been great the last three games. Maybe even sublime the last two? Before that, not so great. But deserves time to adapt to this league like anyone.
You judge players based on how they perform against the best teams, not the worst.
I tend to judge them on how they do against whoever’s put before them & MØ’s been doing the business more often than not.
is that 8 goals in the league for esr?? brilliant!
He’s gr8.
Better return than lukaku
and Ronaldo, and Mane, and Silva, and Bruno, and …
Great to see us keep our foot on a struggling opponent’s throat for once… hopefully the kids get a taste for being ruthless. Goal diff is looking a whole lot better after these last three!
Having said that, Norwich were utterly bereft of anything… still concerned about the number of loose passes we play when we slip into our false comfort zone – better teams will punish those severely.
Nonetheless – love seeing Spuds get 3 and STILL slip another 2 down on goal diff to us!
With Leicester and West Ham losing, overall a good day for us.
Need Sp*rs to go back to their usual selves and start squandering those games in hand.
I think all 3 of their games in hand are Away (Burnley, Brighton, Leicester) so yeah hopefully some points dropped for them.
I don’t think it matters too much, what matters is when they play them, in the middle of big games with a tiny turn around please football gods
The team is really looking awesome these days. Wow. Congrats to Arteta and his coaching team.
Arteta’s assistant deserves a Round of applause.
Odegaard is finally coming to the party with some silky play; what a delightful player to watch.
Apart the top 3, Arsenal is proving a match for any other team in the EPL.
We are firmly in the race for top 4.
Considering the start we had, that is something special.
We can beat Wolves on Tuesday.
COYG!!!
No we can’t. Postponed. Next game is the reality check on New Year’s Day.
I like it
And the Artenaissance continues… And long may it live.
Only Man City has had more points than Arsenal since the 4th week of the season.
Didn’t united just about beat this Norwich side one nil?
That was us they beat one nil….
Wow its been a while since i sat so relaxed watching the Arsenal. Our kids are something else!
And hey, even tho Sp*ds have games in hand, were only 6 points of Liverpool. 🧐
Great win today, and so glad to see so much positivity here in the comments—it’s infectious! Happy new year’s wishes to you all, and thanks, Blogs, for keeping the fire lit.
Where’s that fatgooner dude to rain on the parade?