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Talking points ahead of City’s trip to Arsenal

Talking points ahead of City’s trip to Arsenal

Saturday’s evening kick-off see’s Norwich City travel to Arsenal in desperate search of a victory that would give their survival hopes an unlikely boost.

A good time to play Arsenal?

It is open to debate whether this is a good time to play Arsenal. On the one hand, they are not in the most formidable run of form. The Gunners have won just once in their last four games whilst their performances over the last two months have seen them squander arguably their best chance of winning the Premier League title in the last decade. In line with this, anti-Wenger feeling is arguably at its peak, with Arsenal supporter groups such as REDaction planning protests before, during and after Saturday’s fixture. In theory, this should work in our favour. Alex Neil should be drilling into his side the importance of a fast start. If we can start well and frustrate the already emotional home crowd then the mammoth task will become a whole lot easier. Having 60,000 restless supporters on your backs can’t be easy and City’s best chance of getting anything out of this game is by trying to exploit this vulnerability.

Alternatively, this could be the very worst time to play Arsenal. I have seen numerous Norwich fans suggest that Wenger’s side have nothing to play for but this is wholly inaccurate. Their poor form has meant that they are now looking downwards rather than up, and what at one stage looked set to be a title surge for Arsenal is now a very real battle for top-four. Manchester United sit just 5 points behind the Gunners (with a game in hand) and with a difficult trip to the Etihad looming next weekend, Arsenal will see tomorrow’s game as a must-win.

City have shown we can compete with Arsenal

Norwich can take courage from November’s reverse fixture in which we were very good value for a point. We have also caused problems at the Emirates in the past. 2011/12 saw us visit in our penultimate game of the season and come away with a 3-3 draw, whilst the season after saw us 8 minutes away from clinching victory. A hapless refereeing display saw us concede 3 goals in 7 minutes and consequently we lost the game 3-1, but again we proved that we can cause problems.

Does this weekend’s schedule harm City’s cause?

This weekend’s schedule has not worked in City’s favour. With both Newcastle and Sunderland playing in the day’s 3pm kick-offs, versus Crystal Palace and Stoke respectively, there is the very real possibility that we could walk out onto the Emirates in 19th place and 3 points adrift of safety. Going to the Emirates is difficult at the best of times but with that looming over us? I can only see it ending in capitulation. There is a chance that it could work in our favour - if Sunderland lose and Newcastle fail to win then City will know that a point would lift us outside of the bottom three. There would not be any greater motivation than that to grind out a result, but I have to admit that I can’t see both north-east sides failing to win, considering their opponents.

No Klose, no hope?

Timm Klose’s absence is the thing that is killing any sort of hope I may have had going into the game. Sebastien Bassong and Ryan Bennett were made to look slightly foolish by an extremely isolated Jermaine Defoe and, with that in mind, I dread to think what the potential combination of Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi, with the pace they offer, could do to the pair. With Klose in the side, our defence looked assured and stable - he even made Ryan Bennett look good. With no Klose, Bennett has seemingly returned to his out-of-depth self whilst Bassong, is, Bassong.

I just can’t see us not conceding, which, if we are going to take anything from the game, means that we’ll have to score. Sadly, I struggle even more to see where the goals are coming from. It’s time for a miracle…

Prediction? My heart says a smash and grab 2-1 Norwich, my head says 3-0 Arsenal.