Arsenal’s captain, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, led by example as he moved up to 50 goals and 51 goals respectively in the Premier League to become the fastest Arsenal player to reach the landmark playing fewer games in a match that saw Arsenal put 4 past Norwich City.
The win over relegation-threatened Norwich boosted Arsenal’s chances of securing European football for next season.
Two terrible errors from Norwich City’s defence allowed hungry Aubameyang to score a brace in the game.
Norwich’s goalkeeper, Tim Krul lost possession to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the edge of his own penalty area for Arsenal’s opener with the Gabonese whipping the ball from his feet to score his 18th top-flight goal of the season.
Aubameyang then turned provider for Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka to sweep home his first club goal since March 2019 before Aubameyang added another after a mistake by Josip Drmic.
Cedric Soares completed the rout. The substitute scored from outside the penalty area four minutes after coming on for his Gunners debut.
Norwich, six points from safety with six games left, hit the woodwork through Ben Godfrey when the game was goalless, while Emiliano Martinez produced a fine save to keep out Kenny McLean’s free-kick.
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The victory ensures Arsenal move above fierce rivals Tottenham into seventh, six points behind sixth-placed Wolves ahead of the Gunners’ crucial clash at the Molineux on Saturday.
Arsenal made four changes for their Premier League clash at home to bottom club Norwich but neither Mesut Ozil nor Matteo Guendouzi made the squad. Hector Bellerin, Dani Ceballos, Reiss Nelson, and captain Pierre-Emerick Aubamayang all returned for Arsenal’s first game at the Emirates Stadium since 7 March.
Since the blast of the whistle, Arsenal dominated possession as Norwich needed Krul to keep out Aubameyang’s well-struck shot in the 10th minute.
The visitors were struggling but somehow they were inches away from taking the lead against the run of play when Ben Godfrey’s thunderbolt of a strike from 30 yards clipped the outside of Emiliano Martinez’s post.
Arsenal then went on to take the lead shortly after the half-hour mark. A similar scenario just like Eddie Nketiah’s opener at Southampton last week.
They capitalized on an error from the opposing goalkeeper as Krul dwelt on the ball for too long before hitting his clearance straight at Aubamayang, who had the easiest of tasks, rolling the ball home into an empty net.
Arsenal’s lead was then doubled moments later as David Luiz’s picked out Kieran Tierney with an inch-perfect diagonal pass on the left flank. The fullback then played in Aubameyang, who cut the ball back for Xhaka to rifle past Krul for his first goal of the season.
Arsenal needed a fine save from Martinez to keep out Kenny McLean’s free-kick just before the break and the goalkeeper was called into action again moments after the restart, saving substitute Adam Idah’s powerful low effort.
Another defensive error ended any hope of a resurgence as Drmic turned the ball inside into his own box and straight into the path of the Arsenal’s captain, who made no mistake for his second of the night.
Cedric Soares put the icing on the cake for Arsenal coming off from the bench to make it 4 goals on the night.
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Stats and Facts from the game
- Since losing to Chelsea during Mikel Arteta’s first game in charge at the Emirates, Arsenal has now won five of their last six Premier League games at home (D1), including winning four in a row for the first time since April 2019 (10).
- The Gunners have never lost in 21 home Premier League games against sides starting the day bottom of the Premier League table (W15 D6) – the only ever-present side in the competition’s history to have never suffered such a defeat on home soil.
- Norwich’s defeat at the Emirates was their 100th Premier League loss in their 174th match away from home – in the competition’s history. Only Sunderland (58 percent) have a higher losing percentage among all sides to have suffered at least 100 defeats on the road than the Canaries (57 percent).
- Farke’s side has now lost six of their last seven Premier League games (D1) without scoring in each defeat, with the Canaries suffering four straight league defeats without a goal for the first time since May 2016, a run which also included a defeat at the Emirates.
Congratulations to Gunners but the journey continues. Not yet Uhulu