Arsenal vs Norwich preview | Confirmed team news | Expected Line-ups | Prediction

Arsenal will look to get their season up and running with a win when they entertain Norwich City at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon. 

The Gunners have endured a nightmare start to the new campaign as they’ve lost all three of their Premier League games so far without scoring a single goal and head into the weekend action sitting rock bottom of the table.

The pressure is now on manager Mikel Arteta to turn things around, especially after the club backed the Spaniard in the summer transfer market with over £140m spent on six new signings.

A 5-0 drubbing at the hands of defending champions Manchester City before the international break showed just how far Arsenal have fallen behind but Arteta has called for his players to respond this weekend.

Arsenal should be confident of collecting their first three points of the season as they host a Norwich side who are also pointless from their first three matches following their promotion from the Championship.

Team news

Arsenal have been handed a major boost as Thomas Partey is back in contention after recovering from an ankle injury that he sustained in pre-season so he’s expected to start in midfield tomorrow.

Ben White is also available again after recovering from covid while Gabriel is set to partner the England international for the first time after overcoming a niggling injury that he picked up in pre-season.

Emile Smith Rowe will face a late fitness test due to illness but Albert Sambi Lokonga is expected to be fit despite picking up a knock while away with Belgium during the international break.

Lokonga could start in midfield with Granit Xhaka starting a three-match suspension while Mohamed Elneny has been ruled out for at least three weeks with a thigh injury.

New Arsenal signing Takehiro Tomiyasu is available to make his debut after being granted his work permit but he may have to settle for a place on the bench having only trained twice with his new team mates.

As for Norwich, they’ll be without Bali Mumba, Przemyslaw Placheta, Sam Byram, Christoph Zimmermann and Dimitris Giannoulis while Kenny McLean and Josh Sargent face late fitness tests.

Expected line-ups

Norwich XI: Krul; Aarons, Hanley, Gibson, Williams; Gilmour, McLean, Lees-Melou; Cantwell, Pukki, Rashica

Prediction

Arsenal 2-0 Norwich: Arteta is under immense pressure to win this game but his squad has been boosted by the return of several key players such as Partey, White and Gabriel so Arsenal should have too much for Norwich this weekend.

It’s been a tough return to the top flight for the Canaries and while they may be quietly confident of getting a result against an under-fire Arsenal side at the Emirates, the smart money is on the hosts easing to victory.