Barclays Premier League: Arsenal vs Norwich – Preview

Arsenal are set to welcome both Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott back to first-team action when Norwich visit the Emirates on Saturday. Arsene Wenger described the pair as ’90 percent available’ for the game. Tomas Rosicky was undoubtedly Arsenal’s man of the match last weekend against West Brom, but the Czech international is a doubt for tomorrow due to a hamstring injury. German defender Per Mertesacker will be unavailable because of the red card he picked up at The Hawthorns last weekend.

Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott are expected to be back in action for Arsenal tomorrow.

Thomas Vermaelen is expected to be back in the team with Mertesacker suspended, but who will captain the side?. Vermaelen or Arteta?. I would assume Vermaelen as he will be starting this game and he is still officially the club’s captain.

Norwich are unsure whether their first-choice goalkeeper Mark Bunn will be available following a groin injury, so Lee Camp is being readied in case Bunn can’t play.

The visitors have received better news about Anthony Pilkington, who is expected to return from a hamstring problem.

Champions League Qualification: When Arsenal lost the North London Derby at White Hart Lane at the start of March, many wrote off the Gunners’ hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League. But since then they have responded very well to their critics. They won in Munich against Bayern, something that not many clubs can say. Yes, the win didn’t count for anything as Arsenal were knocked out on away goals, but it gave the team belief.

Since Bayern, the Gunners recorded an impressive 2-0 win away to Swansea, thrashed Reading 4-1 at the Emirates and did just about enough to see off West Brom last weekend. Swansea, Reading and West Brom may not seem like an impressive list of teams, but the truth is, West Brom and Swansea away are fixtures Arsenal have lost in the past or at least dropped points in.

I know I wasn’t the only one worried when Mertesacker was sent off last weekend, fearing that if West Brom could score from the spot, they would go on and equalise. It’s true, Arsenal teams in recent years would have let that two goal lead slip after going down to 10. Arsenal rode their luck a little last Saturday too, somehow Romelu Lukaku failed to punish us late on with a glorious chance, but who cares?. Football is all about lucky breaks.

Arsenal’s rivals for the top four:

Chelsea: Chelsea are now third in the table and have played the same amount of games as Arsenal, they are currently 2 points ahead of Arsenal. They continue to have success in the cup competitions, having progressed to the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and the Europa League. Chelsea do not have a league fixture this weekend because they are playing at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final against Man City.

Tottenham: It seems to be the same story every season, doesn’t it?. You know the script by now. Tottenham get to about February / March seemingly out of the sights of Arsenal, before the Gunners find form and pip them to the final qualification spot. It happened on the last day in the 2005/06 season, it happened last season and it looks as though it could well happen again this season. Nothing is guaranteed at all yet, but Tottenham’s form since winning the North London Derby has hardly been fantastic. Hopes of winning a trophy this season disappeared last night too as Basel knocked them out of the Europa League on penalties. Tottenham looked knackered last night, so they will be glad to know that they have the weekend off due to the fact their scheduled opponents are playing in the FA Cup semi-final. The bad news for them is that their next game is at home to Man City.

Everton: Everton have been there or thereabouts this season and if they had won last weekend at Tottenham they would have been right up there and in with a chance of pinching a place in the top four. Tottenham’s late equaliser meant that there is a 4 point gap between Everton and Arsenal and an even bigger gap between themselves and both Tottenham and Chelsea (6 points). Big fixtures that will determine whether Everton can challenge are: Arsenal (a), Liverpool (a) and Chelsea (a). They would also have to remain consistent in their other remaining fixtures too of course, but they are still in with a shout. Aside from those 3 games listed, all of Everton’s other remaining games are ones you would expect them to win.

I think Arsene Wenger said it best when he said if Arsenal win all of their fixtures, they won’t have to worry about the others. Everton (h), Man United (h) and Newcastle (a) are the fixtures that stand out, but Arsenal have struggled against ‘smaller’ clubs in the past.  No teams are easy in the top flight. Arsenal probably had Norwich at home penned in as a comfortable, routine home win, but Norwich had more about them and the two sides drew 3-3. They probably also thought they would beat Norwich at Carrow Road earlier this season, but were beaten 1-0 by the then struggling Canaries. That was Norwich’s first win of the season and they will be hoping to secure an unlikely double over the Gunners this weekend.

Chris Hughton vs Arsenal: Norwich’s manager is former Tottenham player and assistant / caretaker manager Chris Hughton. Hughton has a good record in management against the Gunners. In 2010, Hughton’s Newcastle side shocked Arsenal by beating them 1-0 at the Emirates thanks to an Andy Carroll header.

After a season in the Championship with Birmingham, Hughton returned to the Premier League with Norwich last summer. As mentioned above, his side beat the Gunners 1-0 at Carrow Road earlier in the season thanks to a Grant Holt strike.

There haven’t been enough games between Hughton and Wenger to say that Hughton’s teams are bogey sides for Arsenal, but a win at the Emirates tomorrow would suggest that there is something to this and it’s not just a fluke or coincidence.