Andre Santos played the whole 90 minutes for Arsenal as they fell to a shock defeat away to Norwich City. For the home side this was their first win of the season and the 3 points take them out of the bottom 3. For Arsenal, they are now 10 points off the league’s early pace setters Chelsea.
Santos, 29, was selected to play left back for the game by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger as Kieran Gibbs is out injured. The Brazilian has found it hard to break into the Arsenal starting line up this year, mainly due to the form of Gibbs, and rumours had surfaced that he was keen on a move back to Turkey. However, he recently told the Arsenal online TV station that it was a healthy rivalry for the left back slot.
He said: “Kieran is an exceptional player, and I know I have qualities too. This is a very healthy competition, we’re always talking about it between us before and after training. Kieran is a good friend and I respect the hard work he puts in every day and I know he feels the same way about me.”
Arsenal dominated the possession at Carrow Road but were let down by the familiar frailties. They were quite sluggish in the first half and struggled to create chances against a well organised Norwich defence.
The home side took the lead after 19 minutes when Arsenal keeper Vito Mannone palmed Alex Tettey’s long range shot straight into the path of Norwich captain Grant Holt.
The away side continued to have the majority of possession but couldn’t find away through and at the final whistle Norwich were deserved winners.
