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Four superb Arsenal finishes allowed The Gunners to stroll to victory in a relatively comfortable win against a Norwich side that failed to get going throughout the game.
Key Stats
The key statistics of the match were the amount of shots Arsenal had compared to The Canaries. The Gunners had almost twice the amount of shots on target that Norwich had – this was shown perfectly in the result. One worry connected to the amount of shots Arsenal had will be that they only put away one-fifth of their chances (4/20).
Another worry for Arsenal will be their severe depravity in tackle success rate which stood at a slightly-concerning 67%. Tackling has been a problem for Arsenal for many years and the worry will be that their appalling level of tackling during this game will be covered up by such an impressive and slightly-exaggerated scoreline.
Man of the Match
Although he came on as a substitute, Aaron Ramsey impressed from the minute he stepped on the pitch. He and Mikel Arteta worked perfectly together in the centre of Arsenal’s midfield, that partnership allowed Arteta to ‘sit’ and for Ramsey to move forward and backwards like a lever, up and down the centre of the pitch, as you can see from Ramsey’s action areas diagram below.
As well as Ramsey’s superb goal, he tested John Ruddy in the Norwich goal four times – peppering him with shots from all around the penalty area. The Welshman also helped in setting up Arsenal’s second goal by playing a quick ball out the defence to allow Arsenal to break forward quickly. Ramsey made five successful take-ons as he drifted past the Norwich players with great ease. The Welshman ended the game with one goal, one assist and five successful take-ons.
Performance Score
The Performance Score shows exactly how much Arsenal dominated and how Arsenal’s performance got better and Norwich’s got worse over the course of the game. As you can see, the first 15 minutes of the game were very evenly matched; both teams had chances and could have taken the lead. From then onwards it was a one-way game – Arsenal continued to dominate and although when the second-half began, Norwich had a couple of chances, this eventually prevailed and The Gunners took control of the game once more. The last 20 minutes show how Arsenal’s dominance kept getting stronger and stronger – from the 70th to the 90th minute, Arsenal’s Performance Score nearly doubled, Norwich’s Performance Score more than halved, a breathtaking statistic.
Key Observation:
Although coming to The Emirates is never an easy task, Norwich failed to effectively press Arsenal.Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker had very little to deal with, this wasn’t because they both had particularly good games, it was because Norwich’s presence in the final third was almost non-existent, as you can see from the screenshot above.
