ARSENAL AGONY
Sanchez and Koscielny hobble off as Gunners lose ground in title race
THE carbon footprint turned out to be the least of Arsene Wenger’s problems. Having stirred the eco-warriors by making the short hop to Norwich by air from Luton, Arsenal were back to earth with a bump and more than a few bruises and muscle pulls.
Laurent Koscielny limped off with a painful hip injury, and Alexis Sanchez followed him, clutching the hamstring that had been troubling him since Tuesday.
Santi Cazorla finished the game ‘on one leg’, according to Wenger, after hurting his knee, and Kieran Gibbs was absent with a calf problem.
After injuries to Francis Coquelin and Mikel Arteta at West Bromwich, this was another significant tranche of collateral damage, even without two more dropped points and a failed attempt to seize the initiative in the title race.
Mesut Ozil gave Arsenal the lead d but Arsenal held it for only 13 3 minutes, 60 seconds less than the flight, before Lewis Grabban levelled before the break and Norwich summoned a spirited second-half display.
Ultimately, Arsenal encountered more problems from the yellowss than the greens and it was thee ‘Grabban footprint’ which crushed d their hopes in Norfolk.
Not for the first time, it has been a grim November for Wenger, featuringg a five-goal defeat at Bayern Munich h and two points from three games in n the Barclays Premier League.
The loss of Coquelin for threee months was keenly felt and noww there are more on the casualty list. t. ‘We were jaded and we lost players,’,’ said Wenger. ‘On the injury front it was a bad afternoon.’
He refused to take any blame,e, however, for selecting Sanchez, whoo reported a tight hamstring afterr Tuesday’s win against Dinamo o Zagreb in the Champions League.
The Chilean was sprinting into the Norwich penalty area when he pulled up, winced and instantly signalled to come off.
‘The players are there to play football, not to be rested when the Press decides they need to be rested,’ said Wenger. ‘He says it’s a kick on his hamstring, but I fear that is not the reality. Nobody is scientifically developed enough to predict when a guy will be injured. I must say with all our humility, we are not in a position to predict. Despite our tests he looked all right. We checked it and he had no problem.’
Wenger was uncertain whether Cazorla had ‘jarred the ligament’ or taken a ‘kick on the nerve’ in a tangle with Gary O’Neil, and added: ‘The worrying thing is that it got w worse during the game.’ All of which might have been easier to swallow with a win. In d driving rain and wind, Arsenal dominated the first 40 minutes, squandered chances and took the lead on the half-hour, assisted by a dreadful clearance from John Ruddy. He sn snatched at a kick and dragged it into midfield. O’Neil attempted to gather it but Sanchez stole in and slid a pass to Ozil, who clipped a cool finish over Ruddy.
Petr Cech had barely seen the ball before he was fishing it out of his net, two minutes before half-time, beaten by Grabban from close range.
Robbie Brady drifted inside from the left, away from Aaron Ramsey, and found Grabban, who held off Gabriel Paulista all too easily, turned and gave Cech no chance.
It was a first of the season for Grabban, on his first Premier League start since he was fined and suspended in August after fleeing from the team hotel before a cup tie in Rotherham in an attempt to force a transfer to Bournemouth.
‘If it doesn’t go to plan and we lose, I’d be criticised,’ said Neil. ‘But management is about making decisions you think are right when everyone thinks you’re wrong.
‘ I’ve a good relationship with Lewis. If any of them break the rules, they’ll be punished. He’s accepted it and we’ve moved on. I thought his attributes suited this game. He’s a good player and played well.’
Norwich ought to have taken the lead soon after. Andre Wisdom’s cross flashed across goal to an unmarked Wes Hoolahan but he fired over.
Cech made a fabulous low save to protect a point when a cross from Martin Olsson skidded off the head of Gabriel and was flying towards the bottom corner of his own goal.
Jonny Howson hooked over, and Neil’s team settled for a point towards their survival bid.
Arsenal, meanwhile, must regroup. They could have taken control at the top of the league this month. Instead they go into December, nursing the wounded and trailing leaders Manchester City by two points.