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Arsenal v Norwich: Preview, Ozil & Cazorla To Start? Preferred XI & Prediction

By on October 18, 2013

Premier League action returns tomorrow as we welcome Norwich City to the Emirates. I was pleased England qualified for the World Cup in midweek but I’m not going to lie, I do not enjoy the international breaks!

We head into the game sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League table, although we could be down to second by the time we kickoff if Liverpool avoid defeat against Newcastle in the early kickoff.

We salvaged a 1-1 draw against West Brom just before the international break with Jack Wilshere ending his long goal-scoring drought with a second half equaliser. We didn’t play particularly well that day but we avoided defeat and took a valuable point away from a difficult ground.

Our 10-match winning streak was ended, but at least we’re still undefeated in 11 games and should be full of confidence.

Norwich were unfortunate to loss 3-1 to Chelsea last time out having gone 1-0 ahead and going close to adding a second before an unfortunate mistake at the back allowed Chelsea to take a late 2-1 lead. Willian then compounded their misery with a worldy.

We needed three late goals, including a dodgy penalty, to win this fixture 3-1 last season and I don’t expect an easy ride this rime around, despite the fact the Canaries arrive sitting in the bottom three.

Team News

We’ve been boosted by the news that Mesut Ozil has been passed fit to play after picking up a knock on Tuesday. I’d personally like to see him rested ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Dortmund but I have a feeling Arsene Wenger will go with his strongest team tomorrow.

Santi Cazorla is also in contention after recovering from injury but the boss has hinted he’s likely to start form the bench due to a lack of match fitness.

Tomas Rosicky is also available again, as is Bacary Sagna who has passed a late fitness test. Again, I’d prefer to see him rested and give Carl Jenksinon a run-out but expect to see the Frenchman play.

Theo Walcott is still two weeks away from full fitness so he joins Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lukas Podolski, Yaya Sanogo and Abou Diaby on the sidelines.

Norwich are sweating on the fitness of Anthony Pilkington but manager Chris Hughton expects him to play. Otherwise they have no new injury concerns.

Preferred XI

This is the team I’d like to see start. However, in reality I think we’ll see Ozil and Sagna play with Jenkinson and Rosicky miss out. This means it’s unlikely we’ll see Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil start together for the first time. Arsenal fans are dying to see the two maestro’s in the same line-up, and we might get a glimpse of it in the second half, but it looks like we will have to wait until Tuesday to see them start a game together.

Prediction

I think Norwich will try and make life difficult for us, as they did last season, but we should have far to much for them to handle in attack. With players returning from injury, we even have some depth on the bench to call upon if needed. Arsenal 2-0 Norwich

How do you think it will go tomorrow? What team would you pick?

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