Arsenal-Norwich City preview and lineup

It’s been a long time coming. The international breaks really do get on your nerves. There is a huge sigh of relief it is over and we can get down to the business that matters, as Arsenal resume their Premier League campaign, by inviting Norwich City to the Emirates Stadium.

Luckily, there were minor or no setbacks from the international break. Mesut Ozil was reported to have a small knock, but has been reported fit enough to start. Laurent Koscielny too has been declared fit to start today’s game. Meanwhile, there was the Annual General Meeting as well, and you can get all the details here and here.

The Norwich game is just the first of a testing round of fixtures for the Gunners. Borussia Dortmund come visiting on Tuesday night, before Arsenal travel down London to Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace. After that, the Gunners will host Chelsea in the Fourth Round of the League Cup on the 29th, before inviting Liverpool on Saturday, November 2nd. Arsenal will travel to Germany to face Dortmund on 6th, and then go to Old Trafford to face old foes Manchester United.

Last season, Arsenal returned from the October international break with a visit to Carrow Road, and the game was decided by a 9th minute goal from Grant Holt, as Arsenal were outfought and outmuscled. There can however be little room for error this time, if Arsenal are to maintain their top spot in the league.

Norwich have had a poor start to the season, and are still hoping for their new signings such as Ricky van Wolfswinkel and Johan Elmander to click. After a 2-2 draw on the opening day to Everton, they have since lost 1-0 away to Hull, beaten Southampton 1-0 at home, lost to Tottenham 2-0, lost 1-0 at home to Aston Villa, won 1-0 at Stoke and lost 3-1 at home to Chelsea.

Right, team news then. Santi Cazorla and Bacary Sagna have both been declared fit, and though the prospect of Ozil and Cazorla in the same midfield is pretty drooling, we may have to wait a bit longer to see that, with the manager probably having one eye on the midweek game against Dortmund. Lukas Podolski, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and Theo Walcott are still out.

For the Canaries, Anthony Pilkington faces a late fitness test, while defender Elliot Bennett is definitely out of this one. Here is how I expect the two teams to line up.

Norwich will definitely look to contain the hosts tonight, and it will be to Arsenal’s strengths to capitalize on this and create space and time, to make opportunities. In case of the manager deciding to start Cazorla, we could be witness to a treat in the centre of the park.

Enjoy the game wherever you are!