Norwich vs Arsenal result: Five things we learned as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang rescues Gunners again

Perhaps the biggest surprise of Freddie Ljungberg’s first team selection was the return of a central defensive act best famed for comedy and calamity. And the question of whether Unai Emery's departure could somehow spark a new era for David Luiz and Shkodran Mustafi, and fortify a brittle defence, was promptly extinguished after a matter of minutes.

Daniel Farke set up his Norwich side to sit back, absorb pressure, and counter-attack at every opportunity and Arsenal's urgency going forwards inadvertently played into their hands. Teemu Pukki lingered on the halfway line, and twice in the early stages of the match, he sent Arsenal's high-line hopelessly scrambling. In the end, it only took 20 minutes for the resistance to crack. A route-one through ball fell to the Finn and, despite having no support alongside him, Mustafi and Luiz rocked back on their heels, and the German could only watch mournfully as the ball ricocheted off his tangled leg past Bernd Leno.

It was a pattern that lasted the entirety of the match, with Pukki at one point sending Mustafi crawling around the pitch with a slow-motion take on a Cruyff turn. Ultimately, as Norwich continued to expose the pair time and time again in a frantic final 20 minutes, Arsenal were lucky to escape with only two goals conceded, and the 2-2 draw was nothing less than what Norwich deserved.

It was a moment where VAR again stole the spotlight and, although it seemed to sap all the natural flow from the game, this time the correct decision was eventually made - although Norwich were still left feeling mightily aggrieved

A mindless handball from Christoph Zimmermann had gifted Arsenal a route back into the game from the penalty spot, only for Tim Krul to taunt his way into Aubameyang’s mind, point to the correct corner like a playground game, and duly make the save. Yet, as the goalkeeper celebrated his psychological masterclass, VAR ruled that Max Aarons had encroached into the box and, although it initially seemed farcical, the guilty culprit Max Aarons was the player who made the subsequent clearance from Krul’s save.

They ran it back, Krul had already played his cards, and this time Aubameyang thrashed it into the side-netting. It didn't feel right, but invariably it was.

When burdened by a central defensive pairing embossed with bright red sticky tape reading ‘FRAGILE’, it would serve best not to invite someone to come and throw them in every direction. And yet, with Calum Chambers and Granit Xhaka shielding the right-hand side, Arsenal were simply waving Norwich’s counter-attacks down their most vulnerable channel.

Throughout the match, Chambers in particular was repeatedly caught lacking pace and positioning. Whenever he burst forwards to try and offer an outlet in attack, he simply didn't have the physicality to cover back. And, just as Arsenal had regathered their hold on the game, Onel Hernandez simply waltzed into void left by the vacant full-back, went unchallenged by Xhaka and laid the ball off to Cantwell, who curled it almost nonchalantly into the far corner.

It was the same repetition of old mistakes Arsenal have been making for far longer than this season alone, and it was only for the many interventions of Bernd Leno that they weren't more severely punished at Carrow Road.

It was cruel on Norwich that after such an impressive and fearlessly attacking start to the second-half, their lead was undone by a vulnerability at set-pieces. Throughout almost the first minute, Farke’s side had struggled to match Arsenal at corners, with Onel Hernandez clearing Mustafi’s header off the line. But after several more warnings, finally they were punished when Ozil’s corner pinballed around the box, before landing at the feet of Aubameyang, who reliably thrashed it into the roof of the net. After outplaying, outfighting and, for the best part, outclassing Arsenal, it was the simplest of basics which cost them.

The clearest takeaway for Arsenal fans from the 2-2 draw wasn't the same lapses in defence, nor the familiarity of the team's success being almost entirely shouldered by Aubameyang, but that the solution to their problems won't come quickly, no matter the manager.

As Ljungberg admitted in his pre-match interview, a coach has no choice but to adapt his tactics to the players he's working with. The club are undermined by a brittle defence, the midfield was often outplayed and overran by Norwich, while Mesut Ozil's place in the team remains as unclear as ever.

The improvements were there today, at least in small increments, but it will take far more than being freed from Emery's shackles or a wave of good-feeling to find a solution.