Norwich City 1-1 Arsenal: 5 Talking Points

A disappointing second half performance from Arsenal left them dropping two more points at Carrow Road against Norwich City, as they watched Leicester City and both of their Manchester rivals extend the gap at the top of the Barclays Premier League, after being held to a 1-1 draw.German playmaker, Mesut Özil put the Gunners in front during the first half. Alexis Sanchez played a clever ball through, and the in-form German midfielder pounced first and finished cleverly past John Ruddy. As Arsenal continued to look dangerous in the course of the first half, lightening struck them as well, as, Norwich City pounced on an opportunity and scored a goal through Lewis Grabban just before the break after some sloppy defending from Gabriel.It wasn’t such a poor performance from the Arsenal outfit, and credit where it’s due. Norwich put in some good work and fought through the 90 minutes exceptionally well, which was what was expected from the hosts.Let’s look at the major talking points from the game at Carrow Road:

#1 Koscielny, Sanchez get injured

Sanchez hobbled off the pitch after pulling his hamstring on Sunday

With Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain returning to Arsenal’s first-team set-up and taking up his place on the substitute’s bench, Theo Walcott reportedly targeting a return against Sunderland next week, and long-term absentee Aaron Ramsey back in midfield, it had appeared before this match that the injury crisis that had recently rocked Arsenal was beginning to subside.

After the Gunners’ injury list continued to grow last weekend with Francis Coquelin being replaced only 14 minutes into Arsenal’s loss to West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns with a knee injury, Laurent Koscielny was also forced off after less than ten minutes against Norwich, and was replaced by Gabriel, after hobbling off the pitch in what looked like a serious amount of pain.

Koscielny was struck on his hip, and could well face a lengthy spell out as he recovers. With a typically hectic festive fixture pile-up looming, Arsenal can ill-afford more injuries, so it is something of a small mercy that the club are well stocked at centre-back, with Gabriel, who came on the replace the stricken Frenchman (and Calum Chambers waiting in the wings).

But if anything unfortunate in the near future is to happen to either the Brazilian himself or centre-back partner Per Mertesacker, then Arsenal are in big trouble.

More worrying news for the Gunners is the hamstring injury Alexis Sanchez picked up around an hour later. Earlier this week, Arsene Wenger was paying tribute to the resilience of his mercurial forward. His prolonged absence could be devastating to their title hopes. Alexis was replaced by Joel Campbell, but realistically who can blame him for pulling up injured?

The Chilean has done really well to stay fit for this amount of time, playing week in week out for almost two years (with summer tournaments), and putting in a 90-minute shift on Tuesday against Dinamo Zagreb. This isn’t the only area of the team that lacks depth at the moment, however. Striker Olivier Giroud, under all circumstances, must keep fit within the next few weeks.

Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck are both sidelined, with Walcott prepared to make his return in a few weeks, and the ex-Manchester United striker a short time longer.

Given how the events have been unfolding, the annual injury slump that ruins another promising Arsenal campaign is already going on.

#2 A good point for Norwich

Manager Ale Neil would be delighted with the point his side earned against a strong Arsenal team

Norwich were good value for the draw. This was a tonic for them after five defeats in the six previous league games and, on a personal level, for their returning striker in Lewis Grabban. Norwich had set up to frustrate Arsenal, to limit the Gunners’ space and punch on the counter and, after Robbie Brady had worked Cech, they found the equaliser.

Koscielny’s replacement, Gabriel Paulista, erred when he tried to intercept Brady’s ball up to Grabban, rather than hold his ground and, when the Norwich striker rolled him, the chance suddenly opened up.

Norwich won promotion to the Premier League playing expansive, attacking football. Their fans loudly ridiculed bitter local rivals Ipswich Town for defending deeply and attempting to sneak a win on the counter-attack when they met in the Championship play-off semi-finals, and their end-of-season goal tally of 88 was a league high after the two strongest teams in the league, Bournemouth and Watford.

But at the start of the season, Norwich attempted to continue playing in this swashbuckling style. Their early November win against Swansea, a dogged 1-0 with Neil setting up his team to stifle and frustrate, was heralded as a pragmatic turning point, with the manager publicly admitting the need to grind out results and play ugly if necessary.

After the loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, the hosts would not have expected to get a point from Arsenal. But the performance against Arsenal was encouraging, except for the goal conceded to Mesut Ozil which was sloppy. A team which aims to out-defend the other team rather than out-score, Ruddy’s error came as a big blunder. If Norwich are going to set-up to contain, they must eliminate such silly errors.

#3 Improved performance by Arsenal after loss to West Brom

Ozil scored in the first half with an exquisite chip over the keeper to Arsenal the lead

In Arsenal’s last Premier League game against West Brom, the Gunners lacked everything from the quality of their passing to not taking opportunities and ended up just generally not being themselves. It was one of those games all teams have, and it resulted in a 2-1 loss. On Sunday however, during the first half, it was evident Arsenal were back to playing some of their best football.

Aaron Ramsey started brightly after making his first start since returning from injury, as well as Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Özil and Santi Cazorla, all combining together, with their fancy tricks and flicks. Their mesmerising flowing movement and passing was aesthetically pleasing for all the fans to watch. Arsenal had bossed the opening 40 minutes or so, going close through Mesut Özil, Olivier Giroud and Sánchez before making the breakthrough.

Sánchez robbed O’Neil of the ball after the Norwich midfielder had been put in trouble by John Ruddy’s risky clearance, and he ushered in Özil. The German dinked his finish coolly over the advancing Ruddy to give the Gunners the lead..

However, the beautiful football deteriorated slightly during the second half, as the Gunners were being put under more pressure from Norwich, but it was still an improvement from last weekend’s defeat to West Bromwich for the Gunners.

Up front, Olivier Giroud is Arsenal’s only fit striker as they struggle for options. Giroud is a good player, he scores goals, gives Arsenal a physical edge in the final third, holds the ball up well and gives the midfield a lot of options in the air, but one thing he doesn’t have which Arsenal have needed recently is pace.

With Theo Walcott, you’re guaranteed pace, the same thing goes for Danny Welbeck. But with both sidelined, Arsenal have only Giroud to rely on. This has proven difficult for the Frenchman, who at the moment is having to play 90 minutes every game.

What was good to see as an Arsenal supporter was that with a tough winter period approaching, some players are finally returning from injury such as Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. But Arsene Wenger’s worries are not ending so soon, as they continue to lose more players to injuries than those returning to the side at the moment.

#4 Grabban is back for Norwich

It was dream return for Grabban as he equalized late in the first halfto earn his side a valuable draw

This was the Norwich striker’s first Premier League start since his summer recall. And the law of fate in football means that he was always destined to score, which he duly did. Norwich boss Alex Neil had fined and suspended Lewis Grabban when he tried to force a move in the summer window. Sometimes managers can cut off their nose to spite their face and it was good to see Neil put the team first.

Alex Neil, who is widely regarded as one of the brightest young managers in the Premier League, is a hard taskmaster, with a reputation for insisting on impeccable discipline and maximum respect. So, when the club suspended Lewis Grabban for leaving the team hotel before the League Cup victory at Rotherham despite being named on the bench, his future with the Canaries looked alarmingly bleak.

But the turning point for Grabban came when Neil only furthered his reputation when he accepted a public apology from the striker with a minimum of fuss, promising that if Grabban continued to work hard he would win back his place in the Norwich first team.

The 27-year-old has had to be patient and wait for his chance, and has only been handed four starts in the League this season but, against Arsenal, he was given his first league start since the spat. The Jamaican easily spun past Gabriel before slotting home for Norwich’s equaliser. It was the former Rotherham forward’s first ever goal in the top flight, and he completed his Norwich City turnaround, thereby, coming back in contention for his side.

#5 Bad November for the Gunners!

Arsenal have had a disappointing month with just the one victory in 5 matches in all competitions

Under Arsene Wenger, November is Arsenal's worst month where they average only 1.6 points per game. This was another one of those days for Arsenal. They are the ones when so much goes wrong for them and they make it difficult to predict with any certainty that they can end a 12-year wait for the title.

With the previous weekend at West Bromwich Albion, they had lost a lead and two players to serious injury in a 2-1 defeat. The Frenchman described it as a “nightmare”. Their fortunes improved against Norwich however, in which they took a point, but only slightly. Once again the Gunners lost a lead and it should not be overlooked that they had the chances to be home and hosed, and this time it was three players who were stricken by injury during the game.

If the Gunners want to have any chance of winning the Premier League this season for the first time since doing so at White Hart Lane back in 2004, then they have to start picking up points against the weaker sides such as Norwich, and winning them convincingly. It’s these sort of games that cost teams the League.

Come the end of the season, when Arsenal are three or four points short of the Premier League champions, looking back over the entire campaign, there will be some games that really show Arsenal slipped up, like Sunday against Norwich. The draw against Norwich rounded off a poor November for Arsene Wenger’s team as they managed to win only one of the five games they played in all competitions.

Whereas, in the Premier League, Wenger’s men could not win a single game, and ended up with two draws (Tottenham and Norwich) and a loss (West Bromwich Albion).

However, the form of Mesut Ozil is a good news for the Arsenal fans, as the German has been involved in 13 Arsenal goals in his last 12 Premier League games, scoring twice and picking up 11 assists. That’s world-class form from Ozil, and again, against Norwich City, he had a superb game. More of the same from their star player is what the fans will be expecting when they host Sunderland next weekend.