Arsenal vs Norwich Preview : Lightning won’t strike twice!

Resident Blogger : SimonSEEZ

Aaaaaaannnnndddd we back!!!

Football has returned our bread and butter. We survived! Always nice going into a break like this on the back of a positive result, we went in with a hard earned draw against West Brom at the Hawthorns and there were debates whether it was 2 points dropped or a point earned. I am in the camp of the latter. Like @theOHbee posted, we could have been Spurs.

At the AGM, everyone spoke positively about the clubs ambitions and how on the pitch success was important to the club, so after all the midweek boardroom activity it’s important we pick up 3 valuable points this weekend against Norwich especially as we go into a very tough run of games. Its Dortmund, Palace, Chelsea (Capital One), Liverpool, Dortmund and away to Manchester United. It doesn’t get any easier after Norwich so it’s important we have this in the bag nice and early.

Easier said than done, coming from an International break it’s always more difficult to access the state of readiness mentally and physically of your players especially since two games were played over the period. Recovery time for someone who has travelled to South America would definitely be different from one who made shorter trips, did they get game time at the two games, injuries and mere fatigue are factors the manager has to consider before selecting his team to win the game. Like all that is not being enough to worry a manager he has the little matter of Dortmund in the Champions league on Tuesday to consider.

Norwich

They have lost 3 of their last four matches and have scored just 3 goals in about 6 premier league games. If you are a fantasy footy player, this should be a good time to buy Arsenal defenders or you might want to consider the fact that at this same time last season we lost to Norwich at their home ground failing to even register a shot on target. That had to one of the worst games on the season and it was on the back of the International break. Can lightning strike twice?

I like Chris Houghton, I find him a very hard working manager. Might not be a media lovable like Evertons Martinez but he sure is one manager who works very hard to grind results from his teams. Near relegation battle last season after they put up good form against the big teams would have taught him some lessons in this league. Record signing Wolfswinkel has scored just one and made another so far and should be one to watch as he seeks to impress. Seven points from seven games might not be a bad return considering a win could see them near mid table dependent on other results.

Player to watch: Van Wolfswinkel

 Arsenal

A host of players return from International duty and the good news is Ozil is fit to play and we welcome Santi Cazorla the ‘little magician’ back into the team, Sagna is also passed fit to play and it would be nice to see the team the manager picks to start tomorrow with the Dortmund game in mind.  I would be interested in a few things.

• Would the manager continue with midfield anchor of Flamini and Arteta especially as both players didn’t get to play any internationals.
• Who starts on the right wing? Ramsey, Rosicky or Gnarby with Walcott yet to recover.
• How many minutes Santi gets as he needs to be readied for the Dortmund game.

It’s important the players get into each other early in the game, we have managed to score early on in games aside from the West Brom match and an early goal will make everyone more relaxed, kill the game off early and allow the manager to pull out players and give others a run in. We have an important game on Tuesday and there is no need pushing this one till the 90^th minute. Whatever Wenger does I hope Ramsey doesn’t start on the left again as it limits his effectiveness and playing out of position was why everyone felt he was a bad player in the first place. Rosicky’s effect on the team when he came on against West Brom was awesome, he also played very well against Napoli and I would prefer he starts this game and Gnabry joining the fray after we are a bit safe to give him experience.ue

Player To Watch : Santi Cazorla

Prediction

Arsenal 3 – Norwich 0

Should be a nice win at home, no reasons why we should not do so.

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