It's Ed, Edd & Eddy Time As Arsenal Beat Norwich

Arsenal took on Norwich last night in the last 16 of the the Carabao Cup with a place in Thursday's draw for the quarter finals as a reward for the winner. As he had done in the previous round and in the three Europa League games to date Arsene Wenger used his squad as he rested the players who beat Everton 5-2 on Sunday. He had the luxury of making 11 changes from that team despite being short of a few players thanks to injuries.

Matt Macey got his first start of the season in goal with David Ospina still injured and Alex Iwobi played instead of Joe Willock, but otherwise the team was the same as the one which won 1-0 at Red Star Belgrade on Thursday night. There were plenty of players out there looking to impress the manager or at least that was what we hoped. Norwich were going to be no pushover though and they will be pushing hard for a return to the Premier League at the end of the season.

The less said about the game the better I suppose up until a point at least because Arsenal were wholly unimpressive for the vast majority of the game. Our defence was a mish-mash and it showed as Norwich found a way in behind us far too often for comfort. They took the lead from such a move when the impressive Josh Murphy ran right past the centre of our defence and finished with a deft touch in the 34th minute.

Try as we might we never really looked like getting back into the game and Norwich had the better chances on the break. There was no cohesion to our play and it seemed like more than a lack of effort on the part of some players. Jack Wilshere was clearly frustrated by the inaction of some of those around him, but he didn't exactly have the best game either.

As the game wore on and we searched seemingly in vain for an equaliser I resigned myself to the fact that we were going out of the competition. I just couldn't see a goal coming from anywhere and I considered how bad the Europa League must be if this team had a 100% record in their first three games. There was one thing I hadn't considered though and we had to wait until the 85th minute to see what that was.

Reiss Nelson was replaced by Eddie Nkietah as Arsenal were about to take a corner and he just jogged forward into their box and poked home from close range as the ball from the corner dropped at his feet. He was only on the pitch 15 seconds at that stage and he could not have asked or hoped for a quicker impact. Arsenal had been improving before that goal and they took control of the game as they went in search of a winner.

They didn't manage it in normal time, but six minutes into the first period of extra time that man Nkietah rose to head home a corner to give them the lead. I had said in my preview that players needed to take their chance to make an impression and Nkietah most certainly did just that. He's only 18 years old, but there can't have been too many players from our youth system who have made such an impression so quickly when the chance has come their way.

There were chances at both ends before the game ended and Norwich felt aggrevied not to get a penalty after Mathieu Debuchey raised his arm across one of their players to hold him off. I still don't quite understand how an arm raised across your face causes your legs to go from under you, but maybe that's just me. They were probably a little unfortunate not to get the penalty and also Mohamed Elneny was a little lucky not to get a red card for a foul in the first half when he was the last line of defence. They're the breaks sometimes though and Arsenal have had their share of decisions go against them in recent games.

I'm not sure what the manager will make from the performances of most of the players, but he cannot have failed to have been impressed by Nkietah. Whether he'll get any more game time or not is another thing because dropping Olivier Giroud or Theo Walcott from our second string would be a real insult to them and I can't see him doing that. I think he should get a chance after a performance like that though as he showed far more desire and willingness to make runs in his 35 minutes on the pitch than both them did between them throughput the whole game.

We're through to the quarter finals where we will play one of United, City, Chelsea, West Ham, Bournemouth, Leicester or Bristol City. The draw will be made tomorrow and the funniest thing is the lack of Spurs in the pot after they put out a strong team at home to West Ham and blew a two goal lead to lose 3-2. I still don't think the team we're fielding in this competition can win it for us, but making it to the last eight isn't too shabby. 

I thing other clubs will probably play stronger teams with Wembley in their sights and it could make it difficult for us in the next round. For the moment though we can revel in the splendour of a great performance from a young man who is hopefully starting out on a long and illustrious Arsenal career.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Norwich Preview

After a fairly comprehensive 5-2 win in the Premier League at Everton on Sunday it's Carabao Cup action for Arsenal tonight with a home game against Norwich in the last 16 of the competition. Sunday's win was the best performance of the season so far for me even if we did hand the two goals to Everton. Not only did we score five goals, but we had 30 attempts on goal with 14 of them on target.

We looked a very different team to the one which had only scored one away goal in four games before Sunday and we finally managed to punish a team we had on the ropes. I'm not saying it was a perfect display, but we could have done with a lot more of that attacking intent in the defeats against Stoke and Watford. I don't think it's any coincidence that we performed so well in attack in the first game that Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette all started together.

Of course we'll have a very different team tonight as we had in the 1-0 win at home to Doncaster in the last round. Our Europa League and Carabao Cup team has done pretty well so far with four wins out of four. Considering it's a team made up mainly of fringe and reserve players with many of them playing out of position that's an impressive record.

With David Ospina injured the chances are Matt Macey will play in goal as I would be very surprised if Petr Cech filled in like he had to do at Red Star Belgrade last Thursday. The defence will probably be pretty similar to the one which managed to keep Red Star scoreless and I don't expect too many changes at all from Thursday night. It's the fifth chance for those players to show what they can do and I certainly think they have every chance of winning tonight.

Olivier Giroud will lead the line hot on the heels of winning the "Puskas" award for the best goal of the year as voted by the public. We all know how adept Arsenal fans are at voting for their team or players in online polls and he was the most prominent player up for the award. His "Scorpion Kick" against Crystal Palace on New Year's Day won him the trophy and he wasn't too far off repeating it with a fairly similar goal to beat Red Star last week.

I would imagine we will see Theo Walcott and Alex Iwobi in the front three with Giroud while Jack Wilshere and Francis Coquelin should man the midfield and the defence will probably be the same as it was against Red Star. The defence struggled at times in that game, but they somehow managed to keep a clean sheet. To be fair the only one of them playing in his actual position was Rob Holding and he's still quite raw and inexperienced. 

Norwich have started the season reasonably well and they're in the play off places in the Championship after 13 games. Promotion to the Premier League is their goal for the season and anything outside of that would be a huge bonus for them tonight. I am sure they will bring a large contingent of fans to the Emirates and they should make themselves heard as long as their team are in with a chance.

As with the Europa League games so far there isn't a huge amount of interest in this game compared to the Premier League, but it is good to see how those fringe and reserve players fare. Jack Wilshere is the one who could be closest to getting into the first team considering the issues we have had and continue to have in midfield. It will be interesting to see how he gets on tonight and if he can keep himself off the treatment table long enough to make a real impact on the first team.

All in all I won't be overly bothered if the result goes against us, but it would be good for the players given a chance to progress. There's a Wembley final to play early next year and it will be interesting to see if the manager strengthens the team a little if we do manage to go through tonight. The more game time each of those players get the better for the first team I suppose and long may it continue so.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Everton Preview

The midweek win over Bayern Munich has to be the highlight of Arsenal's season so far and those three crucial points have kept their chances of qualifying for the knockout stages alive. It's still going to be an uphill struggle starting with the return game in a couple of weeks when any points gained would be massive. For the moment though it's back to Premier League action with Everton paying a visit to the Emirates on Saturday evening.

The game gives Arsenal a chance to ascend to the top of the table if they can take all three points with City not playing United until Sunday. I don't know if I could ever bring myself to cheer for United,  but a draw wouldn't be the worst result either and would leave Arsenal trailing City on goal difference only as long as Arsenal beat Everton. That's no foregone conclusion against a team who seem to save some of their best displays for games against Arsenal.

Everton were well beaten at home by United last week and another performance in that mould would suit Arsenal nicely. Everton have been good away from home so far this season though and are unbeaten on their travels as well as having the best defensive record away from home. They will fancy their chances of sitting deep and using Romelu Lukaku's power and pace on the break.

I'm not sure why they have done so well against Arsenal in recent seasons, but I suppose it's because Arsenal play a game which suits Everton. Like so many other Premier League teams Everton can and will take advantage of any team who don't play at their best or show them enough respect. Arsenal have more than enough to beat them as long as they treat the game as importantly as the did on Tuesday against Bayern or against United a few weeks ago. 

Everton have got some good results at home to Arsenal in particular and haven't won an away game against them in their last 21 attempts. Arsenal have won 17 of those 21 games too, but in the last few seasons it's been far from easy at home to them despite Arsenal usually ending up on top. 

In team news the injuries are starting to become a bit of a worry with Mikel Arteta picking up a knock in training and Aaron Ramsey obviously out after going off with a hamstring injury against Bayern. David Ospina won't be available for a few weeks either which means he won't play the midweek Capital One Cup game against Sheffield Wednesday. Arsene Wenger would usually make wholesale changes for that game as he did in the last round victory over Spurs, but it's hard to see who he has available to rotate in front of the defence.

The team are right up there challenging at the top of the league and their Champions League hopes are still alive too, but the squad is threadbare when it comes to backup attacking options. With Danny Welbeck, Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky all out until the new year it means the Arsenal bench today will probably have Joel Campbell and Olivier Giroud as the only attacking options if it's the same team that started against Bayern with the exception of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain coming in for the injured Ramsey. Chamberlain certainly needs a run in the team, but he's only in it by default thanks to the Ramsey injury. Let's hope he takes the opportunity with both hands and can remember to stay switched on for his defensive duties as well as thrilling in attack.

The defensive options are a lot more positive at the moment with the exception of the goalkeeping situation. Ospina's injury has meant academy player Matt Macey has been on the bench for the last two games with all the other first team goalkeepers out on loan. An injury for Petr Cech would be a real worry, but hopefully it's something that won't come to pass. 

We're been through the old "we've turned a corner" scenario too often in the past to think the team will continue in the current vein. It's rarely boring as an Arsenal fan because the highs are far too often followed by self inflicted lows, but hopefully the team will keep up their current form. It would be great to see them on the top of the table tonight and to put a bit of pressure on the two Manchester clubs before they play tomorrow.

I don't expect too many changes to the team from Tursday night and there can't really be too many with the lack of attacking options. Maybe Giroud will come in for Walcott although he's becoming a bit of a "super sub" with goals seeming to come almost as soon as he's introduced from the bench. What I do expect is a win and hopefully that's exactly what we will get.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.