Aubameyang doubles up for Arsenal in 4-0 win to push Norwich closer to drop
On a balmy night at the Emirates Arsenal eased their way past a Norwich City team that offered all the resistance of a decorative bead curtain.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored two and made one, and in between he looked like he wouldn’t mind playing these opponents every night of the week for the rest of this eerie summer off-season. Norwich were poor, defending throughout like a team unfamiliar with the basic concept but willing to give it a try. Daniel Farke’s team are running out of games, but also conviction.
Arsenal, meanwhile, will take some heart both from the result and from some assured performances, not least from the excellent Dani Ceballos. Three wins in a week. Seven wins from the last 10. There may be flaws and holes and wobbly wheels on this evolving
Arteta-built Arsenal team, but something is happening here.
The switch to three at the back in the last few games has brought some success. It seems unlikely this was Mikel Arteta’s Plan A. But as the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make a back three with David Luiz in it.
Norwich made one change, Tom Trybull coming into a five-man midfield. Arsenal gave a start to Reiss Nelson, his first in the league this year. And the stadium was a breezy place at kick-off, a powder blue sky peering over the vast empty cantilevered stand. This is a stadium conceived and built in the name of full houses, hospitality spend and many other things that aren’t happening right now.
Aubameyang had the first sight of goal after Granit Xhaka’s surge through a vacated midfield. Norwich spent those early moments arranged in a deep defensive block but Ben Godfrey produced the closest thing to a goal with 20 minutes gone, striding forward, finding no resistance, then spanking a shot from 30 yards on to the post.
Steadily Ceballos began to take charge of midfield and to take charge of the ball generally, striding around like the only grown-up on the pitch, keeping possession in tight spaces and finding some telling angles near goal. Lukas Rupp was booked just after the