With a combined 19 goals conceded and one scored it has been a disastrous start to the new Premier League season for both Norwich and Arsenal. The former might have expected a tough start on their return to the top flight but, while the Gunners were well aware of the harsh hand dealt by the fixture list in their first three games, no one would consider three defeats from three with nine goals against to be an acceptable start to the campaign.
The pressure is on Mikel Arteta to make an immediate improvement. Here is how you can watch the match and what you need to know:
Viewing information
- Date: Saturday, Sep. 11 | Time: 10 a.m. ET
- Location: Emirates Stadium — London
- TV/Live stream: Peacock Premium
- Odds: Arsenal -200; Draw +333; Norwich +550 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
Storylines
Arsenal: This may be the worst start to a Premier League season Arsenal have ever endured but there are mitigating factors from a raft of Covid cases to a sizeable quota of transfer business that either had not been done or had only just been completed by the time the new season began. Saturday’s team should look far more like the XI Arteta envisioned with Ben White, Gabriel and Thomas Partey all expected to be available.
“I am really looking forward to having everyone available and trying to start the season the way we want,” said Arteta. “We don’t want to use any excuses, we know how difficult the start was with injuries, a lot of covid issues we had and the extremely difficult games that we had. We have to reset now and we need to start, get everyone back on track and start to win football games, which is what we have to do.”
Norwich City: Arsenal are not the only club to have radically overhauled their squad this summer with the Canaries having recruited an entire starting lineup’s worth of new players for Daniel Farke to use this season. Among the most notable of the final recruits was Ozan Kabak, who spent the second half of last season on loan with Liverpool from Schalke and who performed impressively enough that there was some surprise that the Reds did not activate their purchase option for him.
Chelsea loanee Billy Gilmour was in fine form for Scotland during the international break and if his past performances for his country are anything to go on he should relish the challenge posed by Partey in the midfield battle.
Prediction
A fully fit Arsenal should be a far more formidable test than the side that so struggled before the international break. This should be the game where the recovery begins. PICK: Arsenal 2 Norwich 0
