The game started very quietly with both sides feeling each other out. It was obvious that the Canaries arrived with a plan to frustrate Arsenal in the early stages and although the Gunners were doing all the attacking it was only in the 20th minute that they showed a little danger when hitting the bar.
But Norwich seemed comfortable and they finally made a possible attack just before the half hour which was easily saved by Macey, but just 5 mins later the Canaries sent Murphy clear in a one-on-one against Macey and with a very classy chip from Murphy suddenly Norwich were 1-0 up! Now the Arsenal second string are under pressure and can’t afford to be patient any longer….
Jack Wilshere has been wound up a couple times and is not doing himself any favours by retaliating and Norwich are gaining in confidence after taking the lead and nearly make it 2-0 with a curling shot but Macey is equal to it. Arsenal try hard to try and get into the game, but when they get anywhere near the Norwich goal they just seem outnumbered and they can’t seem to get past the wall of yellow shirts despite the best efforts of Nelson and Maitland-Niles…
As half time approached Arsenal were laying the Norwich half to siege, but the sideways passes never looked like making inroads and Norwich went in at half-time feeling like they had the measure of this unimpressive Arsenal side. Maybe Arsene can get them a bit more motivated and penetrative in the second half but I’m not holding my breath.
The first 15 minutes of the second half it looked like Arsenal were seriously scared of conceding a second goal and they were on the defensive, but as time went on they started to attack a bit more but with little success. The Norwich defence certainly look calm and unworried. The frustration was obvious as Coquelin got booked for a desperate slide after losing the ball, and suddenly the Canaries looked dangerous again…
Then Norwich nearly put the game to bed with two top chances in quick succession but both chances were wasted over the bar, then immediately tghey had another golden chance which was stopped at the death. At this moment in time it looks like Arsenal have very little hope of getting an equalizer tonight….
After a couple of attacks by the Gunners they lost the ball and Jack Wilshere did one of his trademark tackles in the opponents half and got himself booked. Jack, Giroud and Walcott simply look they can’t handle these Championship defenders…
Arsenal looked dead and buried but Wenger (we will call it a stroke of genius in the morning) took off our star youngster Reiss Nelson and replaced him with Neketiah, and 30 seconds later he scored the equalizer! Can we now go on and score the winner or will our reserves live to fight another day? Just five minutes to go and the pressure is on….
When Norwich’s Trybull took Wilshere down before he could get past the half way line it looked obvious that Norwich would be happy with a draw but Arsenal kept pressing. With 4 minutes added on giroud was presented with a free kick right on the edge of the box but when it went straight into the wall a draw looked obvious.
We can consider ourselves lucky yo have a chance to make things right in extra time, but I wouldn´t put my house on it!
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