The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsThe Gunners suffered a 2-1 defeat to West Brom in their last Premier League outing, and will be looking to get back to winning ways in their trip to Norwich. Arsenal had a very impressive away record before their loss last weekend, and with the injury to Coquelin, can the Gunners perform as well as they were without him?
Arsenal were able to keep their Champions League hopes alive with a 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb, and will be looking for another positive result to keep their Premier League title hopes alive. The poor performance will be a slight worry for Arsenal ahead of the game, especially in defence. Without the protection of Coquelin in front of the back four, the Arsenal defence looks as nervy as it did 2 0r 3 years ago, which has always been a criticism of Arsene Wenger’s modern Arsenal sides.
The responsibility will lie with Mathieu Flamini to replace the injured Coquelin, and the 31 year old has already claimed that he is ready to prove that he is up to the physical and mental demands of the role. Although Flamini looked solid in the game on Tuesday, the trip to Norwich will give us a much accurate indication as to whether he has the quality to fill the role for the next three months.
Norwich currently sit 16th in the Premier League table on 12 points, and are coming off the back of a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea. The Canaries have managed just three victories so far in the Premier League, and are struggling to find any consistency in their performances. Despite this, they will be feeling quietly confident ahead of this fixture. West Brom proved that Arsenal are still frail in defence when defending set pieces, which gives them a massive opportunity to get something out of the game.
