Van Persie’s brace sees Arsenal through

Visitors register fine comeback to down Norwich in Premier League.

NORWICH:

Robin van Persie was the hero for Arsenal yet again as he scored a brace, helping his team come from behind to win 2-1 at Norwich City in the Premier League.

The double strike saw the Dutch become only the fifth forward to have scored 30 Premier League goals in a calendar year.

Arsenal dominated the early exchanges and created plenty of chances. Van Persie spurned the first after just a few seconds with a mis-hit effort across goal after Theo Walcott had crossed from the right.

It seemed that it would only be a matter of time before Arsenal scored but Norwich found themselves ahead via an avoidable goal.

Per Mertesacker had plenty of time to deal with Tierney’s hopeful delivery into the Arsenal penalty area but the German allowed Morison, Norwich’s only front-man, to make up ground and take the ball off him. As Mertesacker toppled to the ground Morison went on to slot past goal-keeper Wojciech Szczesny.

However, it was not long before Wenger’s side were level thanks to van Persie. Again Walcott was involved, getting the better of Tierney by pushing the ball past him, and although Gervinho completely missed his attempt to flick in the resulting cross, van Persie was in the right place for a close-range finish.

The ball was in the Norwich net once more on the hour mark when Martin lost possession to Alex Song in the centre circle and when the midfielder played his captain through, Ruddy was beaten by a precise finish over his diving body.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2011.