Norwich: Robin van Persie maintained his devastating form in front of goal by grabbing a brace as Arsenal rallied to beat Norwich 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Netherlands striker took his league-leading tally to 13 goals in 12 matches by equalizing in the 27th minute and scoring the winner with a deft chip just before the hour mark in Arsenal's deserved win at Carrow Road.
Norwich had gone ahead against the run of play through Steve Morison in the 16th but were overwhelmed by Arsenal's fluid attacking play, which earned the resurgent visitors their fifth straight league win, keeping them in touch with the teams chasing a place in the top four.
"Our aim is to finish in the top four and I am confident we are going to do that," Van Persie said.
The Dutchman's double extended his impressive scoring run in the league in 2011 to 31 goals in 29 games, and he has now scored at least two goals in five of his last seven matches in England's top flight.
"We all know he is an exceptional player - what got in the way of Robin was that he was always getting injured but he's fit now," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.
Van Persie could have had many more in an open match that the visitors dominated from start to finish, even though they fell behind completely against the run of play.
Germany defender Per Mertesacker failed to deal with a long clearance forward and was muscled off the ball on the edge of his own area by Morison, who ran on and clipped a neat finish past goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Arsenal had previously gone close through Van Persie twice, Gervinho and Theo Walcott - with the latter two having shots cleared off the line by Russell Martin - but the Gunners were not to be denied.
Van Persie equalized in the 27th, spreading play out to Walcott and then racing into the area to meet the winger's low cross with a tap-in from six yards out.
It was the fifth straight league game he had scored in and he netted what proved to be the winning goal 14 minutes after the break.
Song's through-ball was slightly ahead of Van Persie but the Dutchman controlled it expertly before chipping an angled finish over the advancing John Ruddy.
Comments
0 comment