Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Football London
Football London
Sport
Lewis Pangratiou

Ian Wright pinpoints strange Granit Xhaka moment that summed up Norwich display vs Arsenal

Arsenal cruised to a 5-0 win over Norwich City on Boxing Day.

A double from Bukayo Saka, as well as goals from Kieran Tierney, Alexandre Lacazette and Emile Smith Rowe capped off a very enjoyable afternoon for the Gunners.

As good as the performance was, it was made significantly easier by the quality of opposition.

Norwich were poor from start to finish, and a lack of effort defensively allowed the Gunners time and space to create from midfield.

One moment in particular summed up the Canaries' lack of defensive press.

Granit Xhaka was not amongst the goals but at one point in the second-half, he decided to control the ball with his back before spinning and attacking from there.

The Swiss international's Ronaldinho moment garnered some reaction online, but Arsenal legend Ian Wright thinks that it was only allowed to happen because of how poor Norwich were at closing the Gunners down, something that led to them finding the net five times.

"Arsenal players have to take the credit for the way they started," Wright said in his post-match analysis on BBC Match of the Day.

"They started very aggressively, very ruthlessly. Norwich did play poorly but they were punished at every juncture for their poor play."

"It's this guy, Odegaard [that Norwich couldn't deal with]," he added. "Odegaard in this type of area is just linking the defence, linking the forwards and you see Kieran Tierney [overlapping], this is something that Norwich know he can do and he was doing it all day and continued to cause them problems.

"[For Saka's second goal it was] the same thing. You've got to show him down the line, can't let him come inside. They've got enough bodies, they should be talking to him - no-one's talking to him or helping him. [Saka] has come inside and in the form that he's in, they're playing, Arsenal caused them only problems.

"The thing is that Norwich were just terrible today - this is it. I think that probably sums up just how comfortable [Arsenal] were."

Three points ensured that the Gunners will be in the top four by the time the new year comes, but they'll be largely thankful to Norwich for not putting up much of a fight at Carrow Road.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.