Arsenal come from behind to regain top four spot

Arsenal put in a spirited comeback on Saturday night as they came from behind to beat Norwich 3-1 at the Emirates. The match had all the signs to suggest that it wasn't going to be the Gunners day but that certainly wasn't the case as the Gunners scored 3 goals in the last 5 minutes thanks to a dubious Arteta penalty, a Giroud tap in and a fine strike from sub Lukas Podolski. The win ensured Arsenal kept up their unbeaten run in the league. Meanwhile due to Chelsea and Spurs not playing it moved them all the way up into third place, having played the same amount of games as North London rivals Spurs and one more than Chelsea. There were 3 changes to the side that had beaten West Brom as Vermaelen replaced the suspended Mertesacker, Gibbs came in for Monreal and Wilshere returned from injury to replace the injured Rosicky. Another returning player was Theo Walcott as he was named amongst the substitutes.

Arteta got Arsenal back into the game with a penalty

The first real chance of the game came 20 minutes in as a nice exchange of passes led to Wilshere attempting to play in Ramsey. However Bunn came out and stopped the Welshman from getting on the end of the pass.

The Gunners were then to hit the wood work as Sagna's cross found Giroud whose glancing header hit the bar.

Arsenal were dominating the play and then Gervinho was presented with a fantastic opportunity to grab his third goal in 4 games. Cazorla played a through ball into the Ivorian who rounded the keeper but then sent the ball across the face of goal from a tight angle.

Bunn who had seen a lot of action so far then had a more straight forward save to make as Cazorla drove a shot from range but it was straight at the keeper.

The score at half time was 0-0.

10 minutes after the restart and Norwich somehow found themselves ahead. Snodgrass' free-kick found an unmarked Turner who steered a header past Fabianski to make it 1-0.

Soon after, the Gunners had a strong claim for a penalty turned down as Walcott raced past Whittaker and was then brought down.

Norwich then broke away on the counter attack as the ball was played outwide to Martin but his shot was straight at Fabianski.

With just under 15 minutes left Arsenal came as close as they had all afternoon. The ball was played into Giroud who then layed the ball down to Podolski whose shot crashed against the cross bar. 

Arsenal then finally got their reward as the referee gave a penalty after Kamara brought down Giroud. Arteta stepped up to take the penalty and side footed the ball beyond Bunn for the equaliser.

Minutes later Arsenal were ahead. Oxlade-Chamberlain played a brilliant one-two with Podolski before getting to the byline and crossing for Giroud to tap home from a yard out.

Norwich were now looking desperately for the equaliser and they almost got it through Howson but Fabianski made a good save to deny the visitors.

Into injury time and the Gunners scored their third goal to seal all three points. Fabianski's long kick found Walcott who then layed Podolski off on the edge of the area to slam the ball home.

The final score finished Arsenal 3-1 Norwich.

The teams lineups:

Arsenal: Fabianski, Sagna(80), Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere(60), Ramsey, Cazorla, Gervinho(60), Giroud.
Subs: Mannone, Monreal, Jenkinson, Coquelin, Oxlade-Chamberlain(80), Walcott(60), Podolski(60). 
  
Norwich: Bunn, Martin, Bassong, Turner, Whittaker, Howson, Johnson(62), Tettey(90), Snodgrass, Kamara, Holt.
Subs: Camp, Garrido, Bennett, Fox(62), Bennett, Jackson(90), Becchio.

My man of the match: Aaron Ramsey

Referee: Mike Jones
Attendance: 60,095