Published 07:40 IST, December 2nd 2019
Freddie Ljungberg positive about Arsenal's top-4 chances after Norwich City draw
In the post-match interview after Arsenal's draw 2-2 against Norwich City, the interim head coach said that he was proud of the belief shown by the players
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Interim Arsenal head coach, Freddie Ljungberg has been optimistic about the club, chances of making into the top four of the Premier League and subsequently, qualify for the Champions League. The comments came after Arsenal 2-2 draw against Norwich City on Sunday. It was the Swede's first game in charge.
Leno saves the day for Arsenal
During the match, Arsenal came back from being a goal down to level the score on two occasions, and it happened courtesy star striker Pierre-Emrick Aubameyang scoring a penalty and a close-range finish. The away side fell to Teemu Pukki and Todd Cantwell's goals.
If not for Bernd Leno's heroics, Arsenal would have lost the match since the defence continued to be a problem for the North London side. Leno has made a total of 56 saves this season, more than any other goalkeeper in the league, and if Arsenal still have any hopes of being in the top four, it's because of the German's performance.
Ljungberg, however, had quite a few positives on the day, with Arsenal playing with much more freedom and creativity than in recent weeks. In his post-match press conference, he said, "If we look at the game, we started really well and I thought we dominated totally and found pockets and created chances. I would probably expect us to take the lead and go for that. The problem I think is that everyone can see that we had problems in transitions while we had possession, so that’s something that’s easy for a coach because we know what we need to work on. That’s to lock and not get countered on in those ways."
However, the draw meant that it continues Arsenal's worst start to a season since 1975, and to achieve the targets Ljungberg will have to turn things around quickly. He was asked if better results will come for the club and he said, "[Yes], 100 per cent. For me, from what I saw in the first 30 minutes, the belief and how they went and how we played, that’s good. In my opinion, offensively we were good, and one thing, when we went on-nil down, it wasn’t players shaking their heads. They were saying, ‘Come on guys, we can sort this out.’ That shows for me that the belief that they know they’re good players and we want to change a negative trend."
Arsenal's next match is against Brighton on Thursday evening, and Ljungberg will be hoping to register his first win in front of the home crowd.
06:34 IST, December 2nd 2019