My Reactions After : Arsenal vs Norwich City (EPL)

Coming back from the international break, we needed a good start for our tough set of fixtures and to call that just a good start would be an understatement. We mauled Norwich City! Orgasmic football complete with beautiful goals, compact play and just too much class on display.

Though Norwich played some real good football in the first half and were looking solid at the beginning, we got our breakthrough from a breathtaking goal by Wilshere in the 18th minute. Everything happened with so much speed and precision that it resembled Bruce Lee in action, with the end result being beautiful and devastating at the same time. It was a goal for the purists and showed why we are called the neutrals' favorite.

 So, this is how it happened; Santi gets the ball and skips past a defender, passes to Wilshere and a return pass to Santi, then to Giroud, back to Wilshere, then to Giroud, back to Wilshere again, who just side footed the ball into the net, like knife through butter. And 6 passes within the matter of 4 seconds. Football at its best!

Wilshere's goal.

Flamini, whose was included in this game so that it would be the COC game and not the Liverpool game that he would have to miss in case he got another yellow, collided with a Norwich player and had a concussion. His substitution around the 35th minute bought Rambo in and changed our game as we started looking weak in midfield. We managed to hold out till the end of the first half without giving away any goals.

The second-half began, Norwich were very positive in approach, pushing Arsenal back. They continued their momentum they had left at the half time break. Arsenal weren’t sitting back either and Arteta had a shot, that earned a corner but nothing fruitful came off it. We finally got our second goal from a counter

Koscielny gets the ball outside the box and passes it to Ramsey, who picks Santi making a run between Norwich players. Santi gets the pass, dribbles and finds Giroud in the right. Giroud puts in a cross to the centre of the box. Ozil who was running like a steam engine finds the cross and heads the ball from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. GGGOOOAAALLLL!!!!The cross was so perfect, that height didn’t matter. Arsenal had a comfortable two goal lead by the hour mark.

Ozil's goal.

Santi was off and replaced by Rosicky minutes after the second goal. Norwich were pushing to find a goal, had a few attempts missed. However, did find their first goal at 69^th minute.

Olsson who had missed a better chance earlier got a chance to assist for their first goal. Though it wasn’t a dangerous cross from Olsson from the left flank, Per cleared the ball a bit poorly. Jonathan Howson who was making a run found the ball which was laid perfectly to be shot. A right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. If only Gibbs had shut Howson down, we wouldn’t have conceded the goal.

Norwich got some hope after the goal. Exchange of shots between the two teams and some good football too. Well, the last 10 minutes of the match, Arsenal were too good to be handled by Norwich. Two goals by Ramsey and Ozil had put the match in rest for Norwich.

82^nd minute, Ramsey header pass to Bendtner. A simple pass to Gibbs by Bendtner, in turn a simpler pass to Wilshere who found Ramsey asking for the ball. Ramsey picks up the ball, and starts fooling defenders, not once, not twice but 3 times to score a brilliant right footed shot into the bottom right corner. Grounded, Norwich defenders could’ve been any more devastated by this sheer brilliance? I don’t think so! They say a picture says a 1000 words and the one below says more that!

Ramey's goal.

Arsenal added a fourth less than five minutes from their previous one through a quick attack. Bendtner made a run with the ball towards the left flank, found Rosicky at the left edge of the box who picked Ramsey at the far post with his cross. Ramsey with good presence of mind passes the volley to Ozil instead of taking a shot from an acute angle. Ozil just tapped in the ball to back of the net. 

Ozil's second goal.

Arsenal made a couple of attempts after the fourth goal which didn’t find the back of the net though. After the full time whistle it was Arsenal 4 – 1 Norwich on the scoreboard  Norwich had a good game except for conceding the goals. They weren't too bad to be overlooked on their performance. It was Arsenal, who were just too much for Norwich to contain.

Arsenal created goal scoring opportunities from through balls, counter attacks, wing play. Norwich lost the possession very often and also many individual errors which have cost them dearly. Hard to pick the best man of the match, Ozil and Giroud were the best amongst the gunners. Gary Hooper and Snodgrass were the ones who didn’t step up for Norwich, very poor performance from them.

Despite the mesmerising football and superb result, we did have our low moments in the match. With the big games coming up, Arsenal need to work harder to produce the same result week in and week out to stay on the top of the table. Let’s hope for the best.

Come On You Gunners!