Reaction and analysis
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Some Norwich reaction. “I think naturally it’s a good point at home against a strong team but we had chances to get something more,” says Todd Cantwell. “I’ve been working on the composure to try and take the chances you get in this team.” As for Tim Krul, he seems to have mellowed since that first-half penalty. “For me the job is to get into the striker’s head and make him doubt himself,” he says. “It was frustrating it had to be retaken.”
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Eight games without victory for Arsenal, their longest winless run in 25 years. It is 38 days since their last win, a last-gasp 3-2 victory against Vitoria at the Emirates and, by the time they entertain Brighton on Thursday, it will be 60 days since their last Premier League win. Leno was outstanding for Arsenal, while Aubameyang and Guendouzi were probably the best of the rest. For Norwich, plenty of encouragement to take into Wednesday’s trip to Southampton. Max Aarons, Ben Godfrey, Todd Cantwell, Onel Hernández and Teemu Pukki all shone.
Full-time: Norwich 2-2 Arsenal
That’s yer lot! A thoroughly entertaining encounter. Ljungberg puffs his cheeks in disappointment as the whistle blows but Norwich deserved at least a point. If anything, Bernd Leno prevented Daniel Farke’s side from taking all three with Arsenal’s defence repeatedly found wanting. Elsewhere, it finished 1-1 at Molineux between Wolves and Sheffield United.
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90+4 min: A crucial block by Amadou prevents Torreira’s shot from troubling Krul. Norwich then scamper upfield. What an end-to-end finish!
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90+4 min: Into the final minute ...
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90+3 min: Zimmerman clears. With his head, not his hands.
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90+2 min: Leno smothers after Pukki eludes Mustafi! Leno has kept Arsenal in this game. The visitors, though, now win a corner ...
90+1 min: Leno makes a superb two-handed save to deny Norwich! It is a brilliant stop after Aarons’ shot horribly deflected off Torreira. Aarons did brilliantly to burst forward into the box. There will be four minutes of added time.
90 min: Martinelli replaces Mesut Özil in Ljungberg’s final throw of the dice. Norwich are still pursuing a winner. Can they?
89 min: Norwich almost walk the ball into the net but Trybull is caught a yard offside. Emi Buendía is the catalyst; he’s been lively since coming on. Buendía was magnificent in the Championship last season.
88 min: Another Norwich corner. Aarons – again – does brilliantly ...
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87 min: Norwich win a corner. There is a bit of handbags between McLean and Kolasinac after the latter gets up in the Norwich midfielder’s grill at desperately appealing for handball – it wasn’t. The VAR checks it, and then checks for a red card. Nothing doing.
86 min: Emi Buendía and Onel Hernández probe down the left, with Norwich, too, confident of finding a winner. Aubameyang, of all people, is back at right-wing back hoovering up.
84 min: Arsenal are trying to fashion a winner but Norwich are hounding them and making life difficult. Up in the stands food for thought for Edu, the Arsenal technical director. Arsenal have not been disastrous but it has hardly been a convincing performance.
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83 min: Cantwell, who has had a stormer for Norwich, is replaced by Emi Buendía. Less than seven minutes of normal time to play.
82 min: Norwich are readying a change of their own ...
79 min: Amadou giftwraps Arsenal a chance but Krul rushes from one end of his goal the other, ultimately proving Norwich’s saviour! It was a careless, aimless pass by Amadou into no man’s land and Aubameyang was lurking. But Krul did well to intervene.
78 min: Saka replaces Guendouzi.
76 min: Bukayo Saka is stripped and ready for action. The 18-year-old is very much a Ljungberg player having worked with him in the academy. Nicolas Pépé, too, has been warming up.
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72 min: Cantwell almost bustles his way through and finds a third for Norwich! The midfielder plays a one-two with McLean on the edge of the box and everybody in an Arsenal shirt seems to stop. But not Cantwell, who piles into the box before David Luiz wakes to intervene. Elsewhere, it remains 1-1 at Molineux.
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70 min: Lucas Torreira replaces Willock.
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69 min: Leno makes a decent save from the resulting free-kick. It was flashed towards the back post but it’s no real trouble for Arsenal, who earn a slice of much-needed respite. Changes are coming ...
68 min: Norwich win a free-kick 20 yards from goal. Hernández did brilliantly again, skirting away from Xhaka before playing in Teemu Pukki, who was hauled down by Chambers. The Arsenal defender needs to be careful. He was booked just seconds ago.
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66 min: Chambers is booked for a clumsy foul on Hernández. Joe Willock seems to be in pain but is soon back up and running.
65 min: How long have Arsenal been incapable in defence? Norwich are carving them open time and again. Elsewhere, at Molineux Matt Doherty has equalised for Nuno’s Wolves at home to Sheffield United. Like at Carrow Road, there is 25 minutes to play there.
63 min: Leno denies Pukki with his legs! Another huge stop by the Arsenal goalkeeper. Pukki latches on to a wondrous Cantwell through ball and promptly wrings Mustafi inside out, totally embarrassing the Arsenal defender. In doing so Pukki creates ample room to take aim – the end result seems inevitable – but Leno works wonders to keep it out.
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62 min: Cantwell drags narrowly wide!! Aarons raids inside off the right flank – he has been brilliant in both boxes – and Cantwell has to take it first time and does. His left-foot shot has the beating of Leno but it drops the wrong side of the Arsenal goalkeeper’s left post. Mustafi, David Luiz and co – again – were all over the shop. This Arsenal defence is dire.
59 min: Bernd Leno with a humongous save!! Arsenal switch off – Mustafi and David Luiz go missing, again – and Kenny McLean bares down on the arsenal goal. But he cannot beat the German goalkeeper, who gets a strong left hand to McLean’s strike. As McLean surged through on goal, he seemed to lack belief, and then conviction. That was a massive, massive chance.
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GOAL! Norwich 2-2 Arsenal (Aubameyang, 57)
Right on cue, the Arsenal captain comes up trumps. Aubameyang blasts home after Mustafi’s shot from Mesut Özil’s corner was blocked by Byram. That’s Aubameyang’s 12th goal of the season. It was a sloppy goal from a Norwich perspective. Aubameyang was unmarked six or seven yards from Tim Krul’s goal.
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55 min: Cantwell is penalised on the edge of the Arsenal box for a foul on Willock and Arsenal earn a chance to rebuild. Gabriel Martinelli was doing an intensive warmup at half-time. Ljungberg must be tempted to throw him on shortly. Arsenal’s attacking intent has undoubtedly faded.
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52 min: Mesut Özil tries to pull the ball back into the box but it’s blocked by Zimmerman and Arsenal have to settle for a corner, which ultimately comes to nothing. Arsenal protest for another penalty because Özil’s cross zooms off Zimmerman’s hand, but it would have been extremely harsh.
50 min: Godfrey shows a brilliant turn of pace to coolly usher the ball away from Aubameyang and play it back to Krul. For a moment Norwich seemed to be under the cosh, with Willock sliding a pass into the channel for the Arsenal skipper to gallop on to but Godfrey did magnificently to hoover things up with minimal fuss.
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47 min: Onel Hernández makes a crunching – but fair – challenge on Aubameyang. Moments later Xhaka and McLean collide and the Norwich midfielder comes off worse. It was pretty innocuous. But McLean appears to be in plenty of pain.
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46 min: Pukki gets the second half started.
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Half-time reading:
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Half-time: Norwich 2-1 Arsenal
Freddie Ljungberg’s side trail at the break, with Arsenal guilty of twice being caught cold on the counterattack. For Norwich, that hoo-ha over the re-taken penalty feels a long time ago. Over at Molineux, Sheffield United lead Wolves 1-0 at the interval. Lys Mousset struck with just two minutes on the clock. Wolves have been a little lethargic, while it has been more of the same from Chris Wilder’s unrelenting side.
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GOAL! Norwich 2-1 Arsenal (Cantwell, 45+2)
Todd Cantwell strikes for Norwich! It is a beautiful, weighted finish by the 21-year-old academy graduate. It stems from Kenny McLean driving into space before spreading play to Onel Hernández, who raided into a huge hole vacated by Chambers, who had gone walkabout. Hernández showed composure to slide the ball across for Cantwell, who curled a wonderful strike into the corner. Placement, not power. An effortless finish. His celebration is a cracker, too; a Peter Crouch robot of sorts.
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45 min: There will be three added minutes at the end of a richly entertaining half. Guendouzi limps off but Per Mertesacker signals to the substitutes’ bench that the midfielder is going to be fine.
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44 min: Kenny McLean is booked for a rash challenge on Guendouzi. That was a poor tackle by the Norwich midfielder. He caught the Arsenal midfielder high on his ankle. Guendouzi requires medical attention and seems to be struggling. He’s going nowhere fast.
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43 min: Godfrey plays a poor pass on halfway but it goes unpunished as Xhaka then does likewise. Lacazette, who Xhaka failed to find with his pass, huffs and puffs. It’s not quite happening. They were playing much more freely before Pukki opened the scoring with that deflected strike.
41 min: Guendouzi tries to slide the ball into the channel for the overlapping Kolasinac, but there is Max Aarons once again. The Norwich teenager has impressed at full-back, more so defensively this afternoon.
39 min: A frustrated Lacazette makes a crude challenge on Amadou but Tierney gives a free-kick and tells Norwich to get on with it. Onel Hernández is then played in, with Xhaka for company and the Arsenal midfielder does well to crowd the winger out. Norwich win a corner, which drops for Amadou, who wellies a harmless shot wide.
37 min: A lapse by Cantwell allows Xhaka to steal in and seize possession 20 yards from goal. Xhaka does brilliantly to pickpocket the Norwich midfielder but he fails to execute the pass. Instead of rolling in Lacazette, he plays a poor pass behind the Frenchman. Just like that, the move breaks down. And Norwich get a chance to build themselves.
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37 min: Paul Tierney has a stern word with Todd Cantwell for a poor challenge on Guendouzi. The Norwich midfielder is fortunate to come away from that telling off without a booking. It wasn’t a great tackle.
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35 min: Amadou plays Norwich into trouble, with a sloppy pass fired into Aarons, who had no chance of controlling the ball. Arsenal then break but Zimmerman, who foolishly gave away the penalty, buys a foul out of Lacazette. A little respite for Norwich, who have struggled to put a foot on the ball and control proceedings. Arsenal remain in the box seat.
34 min: Guendouzi plays a high ball in for Lacazette, but Ben Godfrey gets in front of the Frenchman to hoover up.
33 min: Norwich clear their lines but Hernández cannot pick out McLean with Arsenal at sea in defence. This is a wildly open game.
31 min: Arsenal are probing in search of a second, with Guendouzi playing a wonderful give-and-go with Lacazette. Guendouzi surges into the box and Max Aarons does brilliantly to nick the ball away from the Arsenal midfielder. Aarons is fuming with Pukki for allowing Guendouzi to fly into the box unmarked. The visitors have to settle for a corner ...
30 min: As Patrice Evra says, I love this game.
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GOAL! Norwich 1-1 Arsenal (Aubameyang, 29 pen)
At the second time of asking, Aubameyang levels for Arsenal. The Arsenal skipper makes no mistake this time, sending Krul the wrong way before holding his index finger to his mouth, a little shushing gesture to the Dutchman. Needless to say Tim Krul, who has already been booked, is absolutely livid.
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28 min: Aubameyang will re-take it ...
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27 min: The penalty will be re-taken! Norwich are penalised for encroachment, with four yellow shirts in the box before Aubameyang made contact with the ball. A chance for a reprieve ...
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26 min: Krul saves Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s penalty! The Norwich goalkeeper is booked for a few mind games before the spot-kick and Krul dives to his right to keep it out. Aarons then clears to prevent any Arsenal shirt jumping on to the rebound ...
25 min: A penalty is awarded to Arsenal ...
25 min: VAR check ... but that’s a penalty, surely.
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24 min: Arsenal win a penalty! Paul Tierney points to the spot! Zimmerman handles Özil’s cross with his left hand ...
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23 min: Ljungberg bounces out of his seat in the dugout and looks rather perplexed as to how his team trail. McLean, meanwhile, has fouled Xhaka so Arsenal have a free-kick 25 yards out. Özil will take ...
GOAL! Norwich 1-0 Arsenal (Pukki, 21)
They all count. It’s cruel on Arsenal – it’s a wicked deflection to beat Leno – but Teemu Pukki jinks inside unchallenged and finds the net. After a blistering start, Ljungberg’s side trail at Carrow Road. Pukki drove inside David Luiz and the Finland striker’s shot cannons off Mustafi and into the corner.
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19 min: Krul denies Chambers, who heads at goal from Özil’s corner! Chambers burst to the front post totally unmarked and tried to divert the ball across goal but the Norwich goalkeeper clambers it to safety. A let-off for Norwich, whose zonal marking looked shoddy there.
18 min: Kolasinac weaves inside Cantwell and Aarons before the latter eats back at his man to concede a corner ...
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16 min: McLean winds up a thumping shot from 20 yards but Bernd Leno sees it all the way. It certainly did not lack power. Leno gathers. Moments earlier Arsenal swept upfield, another incisive break, kickstarted by Granit Xhaka. Chambers’s final ball was Arsenal’s undoing.
14 min: Kolasinac does brilliantly to shift across towards the centre of defence having sensed the danger and nicked the ball away from McLean. Chambers then does well to not only wriggle out of a tight space but pick his pass. A very assured start by Arsenal.
13 min: Cantwell clears Özil’s corner. Chambers ended up nudging the ball out of play after duelling with Ben Godfrey but the referee Paul Tierney pointed for an Arsenal corner. Fortunately for Farke and co, it came to nothing. Pukki is yet to have a sniff for the hosts.
12 min: Arsenal, wrongly, win another a corner ...
10 min: Mustafi has a header cleared off the line by Onel Hernández! The defender beats Krul, who was lured into no man’s land by the corner, to the ball and it is destined to ripple the Norwich goal – only for Hernández to intervene on the goalline. Arsenal give Norwich another fright.
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9 min: Aubameyang surges down the right but cannot pick out Lacazette in the centre. Chambers collects the seconds and has a shot blocked. Arsenal win a corner. Norwich cannot live with the visitors’ energy ...
7 min: Kolasinac hammers a cross into the front post from the left flank, where he burst to the byline with Aarons for company. Krul goes to ground to collect but Zimmerman brings matters into his own hands and the Norwich defender wellies it clear. Norwich fans are in great voice but, on the pitch, it is all Arsenal.
6 min: Amadou drags a shot wide for Norwich. Meanwhile ... Lys Mousset is at it again. The former Bournemouth striker has given Sheffield United a 1-0 lead at Molineux. Chris Wilder’s side are back up to fifth – above Tottenham – in the table as it stands.
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5 min: Krul denies Lacazette! Willock makes a brilliant run beyond Lacazette, causing panic in the Norwich box. Willock latches on to Guendouzi’s lofted pass and holds up possession and eventually plays in Lacazette, who fails to make a clean contact with the ball and the Norwich goalkeeper claws it to safety. The resulting corner comes to nothing but it has been a very positive start by Arsenal.
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2 min: Lacazette with a sumptuous piece of control 35 yards from goal proves the catalyst for a promising Arsenal move. David Luiz plays the ball forward into the Frenchman, who takes the sting out of the pass before nudging it into Özil. Arsenal work it wide to Chambers, whose cross from the right flank is blocked by Byram. Norwich clear.
1 min: Arsenal, lining up in a 4-3-3, get the ball to Aubameyang, who scoops a cross into the box. Max Aarons thumps it clear.
Peeeeeeeeeep!
Lacazette gets things started at Carrow Road.
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Meanwhile Arsenal women are 8-0 up against Bristol City with less than an hour played. No pressure, Freddie ...
The teams trudge out of the tunnel. Here we go ...
It’s a beautiful, brisk day at Carrow Road. Less than 10 minutes until kick-off. Will Freddie Ljungberg get off to a flyer?
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Watford Gap:
A gentle reminder Wolves v Sheffield United also gets under way at 2pm (GMT) at Molineux. For Wolves, Max Kilman makes his full Premier League debut, with the 22-year-old replacing the suspended Romain Saïss. Kilman, who spent 2016-17 on loan at Marlow, joined Wolves from fifth-tier Maidenhead United last year. Chris Wilder has made two changes, with on-loan Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson recalled, while John Egan replaces Phil Jagielka, who misses out because of a head injury.
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More soundbites from man-of-the-moment Ljungberg:
It is a very proud day for me and my family. I represented this club and played for them for 10 years and to have the opportunity to lead them out is a great, great honour
As the manager I need to pick the team I believe in. I’ve used a bit of experience and I think they need to take the lead in a hard time like we are in at the moment. There are difficult decisions to be made, for example I left Reiss Nelson back home in London, which is really hard because he is the future of this club, a great talent but I had to leave him out. Those are the decisions you have to do and it’s not always easy. I felt this was a good lineup and hopefully we will be successful
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Freddie Ljungberg gives the lowdown on his team selection, with Granit Xhaka being given the nod in midfield and Shkodran Mustafi handed his first league start of the season among four changes. Asked if everyone has been given a clean slate following Emery’s exit, an ice-cool Ljungberg replies: “One hundred per cent. I believe in how people treat me and I give everybody a possibility. I felt that was the balance of our team and I took the decision. For me the captaincy, there has been so many discussions for us I just thought it is better to leave it is as it. Auba is a great captain, a great player and that’s how we are going to go.”
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Do not fear, we have an answer to the big question. It seems Freddie Ljungberg is not a tracksuit or a suit manager but rather a knitwear kind of guy. Arsenal honcho Josh Kroenke gave Ljungberg a glowing reference, saying the Swede has the club’s DNA at heart. “We feel he is the right person in the moment to take the club forward,” Kroenke, the Arsenal director, said. “We started to fall short of several goals that we set. We still feel we can achieve those goals this season. I think footballers are at their best when I see smiles on their faces and going out there and winning matches. That’s a winning formula to me.”
Team news news: Granit Xhaka makes his first Premier League start since that infamous departure at home to Crystal Palace in October as interim manager Freddie Ljungberg makes four changes from the XI that rescued a draw against Southampton. Mesut Özil starts while Lucas Torreira, Kieran Tierney and Sokratis drop to the bench. The full-back Héctor Bellerín is absent with a hamstring injury. Ibrahim Amadou replaces Alex Tettey as Daniel Farke names an otherwise unchanged Norwich side.
The teams!
Norwich City (4-2-3-1): Krul; Aarons, Zimmerman, Godfrey, Byram; Trybull, Amadou; Cantwell, McLean, Hernández; Pukki
Subs: Fährmann, Lewis, Vrancic, Srbeny, Buendía, Stiepermann, Roberts
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Leno; Chambers, Mustafi, David Luiz, Kolasinac; Xhaka, Guendouzi; Willock, Özil, Aubameyang; Lacazette
Subs: Martínez, Sokratis, Tierney, Torreira, Pepe, Saka, Martinelli
Referee: Paul Tierney
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Preamble
The big Arsenal news this week? They ditched the private jet and hopped on to the team bus for this season’s visit to Carrow Road after taking flak for chartering a 14-minute flight from Luton airport to Norfolk four years ago. How times have changed. Not only that but Freddie Ljungberg is now in the hot-seat after Arsenal sent Unai Emery packing with his P45. Ljungberg, who has whet supporters appetite by declaring his love for va-va-voom football will be ably assisted by former defender and Big F ... Per Mertesacker. Fifty-six days have passed since Arsenal’s last win in the Premier League (against Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth at the start of October) and, in terms of performance, surely anything will be an improvement on Thursday’s abject defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt, Emery’s final game in charge. “However long I oversee Arsenal for I will give everything I have to put smiles back on faces again,” says Ljungberg, who faces competition from the former Juventus manager Max Allegri for the permanent gig. Norwich, meanwhile, will be keen to build on that away win at Everton last time out. “We’re not too down after disappointing results and weren’t too high after the Everton win,” says Daniel Farke. “We remain the underdogs in every game, especially against Arsenal. But we always have a chance.”
Kick-off: 2pm (GMT)
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