Arsenal 11/4 to put Norwich in their place with three or more goals

Since Norwich City’s return to the Premier League they’ve given Arsenal a headache in each of the clubs’ three meetings, going down by a single goal at Carrow Road before holding the Gunners to a draw at the Emirates last term. This year they stepped up on that again, beating the North London club 1-0 in East Anglia, but they face an Arsenal team in full springtime flight and their hosts are 11/4 to nab over 3.5 goals.

The Canaries away results this season have been enough to dampen the ardour of even the most ardent follower of Delia, with a single win and 12 goals to show for 16 Premier League road fixtures.

Barring an early-season draw at a Tottenham side in transition, City’s away results seem to adhere to a clear pattern. They’re able to earn draws or lose narrowly at the grounds of the mid-table or lower teams which Chris Hughton may have marked down as potential points-earners back in pre-season, but when they come to visit the big clubs they tend to have their pants pulled down.

Norwich have slumped to 4-1, 5-0 and 4-0 losses at Stamford Bridge, Anfield and Old Trafford respectively this term with the Emirates and the Etihad still to come.

Arsenal are more than adept at handing out a spanking at the Emirates when the occasion suggests it’s possible, hitting four of more in three of their last seven home league games. A Newcastle resigned to losing Demba Ba, a nondescript West Ham and doomed Reading were the recipients of those goal-flayings and a Norwich team who have won once since December fit the bill.

Taking a glance at the eight times the Gunners have scored three of more at the Emirates in 2012/13 two of their strikers emerge as particularly keen rubbers of salt into away wounds. The Walcott has seven goals to show for the five such games he’s started, whilst Gervinho has bagged four in three of those big wins – the pair are 4/1 first goalscorer options with Coral.

Nothing sabotages the Canaries quest for points so much as the benignity of their attack away from Carrow Road. Chris Hughton’s men have scored more than a single goal in just one away league game this term and four of the blanks they drawn on their travels this term have come in their last four road games.

An Arsenal clean sheet can be backed at 3/4, with their last shut out at the Emirates coming at similarly toothless travellers Stoke City.