A terrible error from goalkeeper Tim Krul gifted Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang his 50th Premier League goal as Arsenal thumped Norwich City 4-0 at the Emirates on Wednesday, pushing the Canaries ever closer to relegation.
Krul foolishly attempted to fake a long kick and dribble past the Gabon striker in the 33rd minute, but he nicked the ball off the keeper's foot and rolled it into the net to reach a half-century of goals in the English top flight.
The Gunners scored a brilliant second four minutes later as David Luiz started an attack with a superb cross-field ball to Kieran Tierney. His pass found Aubameyang, who teed up Granit Xhaka to score with a sweet first-time shot.
Norwich manager Daniel Farke made three changes at the break and his side started the second half brightly, with replacement striker Adam Idah forcing a save in the first minute of the second period.
However, Norwich's penchant for mistakes came back to haunt them, and Aubameyang killed the game off with his second goal in the 67th minute after the visitors lost the ball from their own throw-in.
Cedric Soares came off the bench to score his first goal for Arsenal in the 81st minute as the London club climbed to seventh place on 47 points. Norwich remained bottom on 21 points, six behind 17th-placed West Ham United with six games left.
Aubameyang said he was proud of his goal-scoring record at Arsenal, adding that discussions with the club about signing a new contract were ongoing.
"We'll talk with the club and we're going to see what's going to happen, but first of all I'm really focused on the games and the end of the season, so we'll see," the 31-year-old told BT Sport.
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor, editing by Ed Osmond)
