Arsenal vs Norwich Preview: Team News, Likely Line-Ups, Key Man & Predicted Score

Arsenal entertain Norwich City at the Emirates on Saturday afternoon looking to cement our status as the Premier League leaders.

We head into the weekends action sitting top on goal difference from second-placed Liverpool but could find ourselves three points adrift if the Merseysiders win away at Newcastle in the early kickoff.

Our 10-game winning streak was ended with a 1-1 draw away at West Brom before the international break but we still haven’t tasted defeat in 11 matches, the last loss being a 3-1 home defeat to Aston Villa on the opening day of the season.

We are certainly in excellent form of late and and will hope to secure another three points tomorrow before welcoming Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday for a crucial Champions League group stage match.

However, we have to concentrate on matters at hand first and Norwich proved to be a tough opposition in last seasons corresponding fixture, where it required a flurry of late goals to secure a 3-1 win.

Chris Hughton’s men are currently sitting in the bottom three with scoring goals a particular problem for the Canaries, but they were unlucky to lose to Chelsea last time out and will no doubt be right up for this game on Saturday so we’ll have to be at our best to win it.

Team News

Arsene Wenger gave the latest injury news at his press conference on Friday and it’s largely good news. Mesut Ozil is fit to play despite picking up a knock on Tuesday during Germay’s 5-3 win over Sweden.

Bacary Sagna has also been passed fit after recovering from a minor hamstring complaint and he’s expected to replace Carl Jenkinson at right-back, although Wenger could decide to give him an extra few days rest with Dortmund in mind.

Santi Cazorla could also return to make his first start since the 1st September and Tomas Rosicky is back in contention, but Theo Walcott is still two weeks away from full fitness.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lukas Podolski, Yaya Sanogo and Abou Diaby all remain on the sidelines and Jack Wilshere is pushing for a start having scored his first goal in three years against the Baggies last time out.

Norwich are sweating on the fitness of attacker Anthony Pilkington who returned from international duty with a hamstring injury, although Hughton is confident he will be passed fit.

Elliot Bennett will certainly miss the game after being ruled out for several months after undergoing knee surgery.

Likely Line-Ups

Key Man

Mesut Ozil: The German schemer has been inspirational since joining from Real Madrid and if he starts, I expect him to be at the heart of everything positive from the Gunners. Stopping him will be key if Norwich want to take anything away from the Emirates.

Predicted Score

Arsenal 3-1 Norwich: The visitors have been pretty poor so far this season and I think they’ll find it difficult to contain our fluid attack this weekend.

What would be your team and what’s your predicted score? Share your views below.