Latest Sports News: Arsenal held by Norwich City

In his first game as Arsenal Manager, Freddie Ljungberg was forced to settle for a point as Norwich City held the Gunners in a 2-2 draw.

The Swede, appointed interim after the sacking of Unai Emery, watched from the dugout on the Carrow Road as both sides in an exciting game threw caution at the wind.

There were signs of hope in his first game in charge for the Premier League winner with Mesut Ozil and Granit Xhaka in the midfield.

Yet focus lapses and poor defense cost the Gunners on the road again, widening the gap between them and the top spots in Europe.

The Canaries remain in relegation places, but in spite of their lowly league position, Daniel Farke will be pleased with what he saw from his troops –continuing to play good football.

They’re hosting Brighton and West Ham in their next two games for Arsenal –fixtures the supporters and their new boss will expect to get maximum points from a busy festive period ahead.

The match got off to a far from ideal start for Ljungberg, as Teemu Pukki fired Norwich in front with an effort of 21st minute that took off Shkodran Mustafi a big deflection.

When Zimmermann was penalized for handball and a penalty was awarded to the Gunners, Arsenal immediately had a chance to level the scoreline.

Tim Krul saved the initial spot-kick of Aubameyang, but no mistake was made by the Arsenal skipper after VAR intervened to order a retake for intrusion.

But in the first half of the stop time, the Canaries reclaimed the lead.

Onel Hernandez had time to pick up his pass on the left wing and teed up Todd Cantwell to hit Leno for a 2-1 half-time advantage with a controlled finish.

With Norwich’s opener cancelled out, Aubameyang was back at it in the 57th minute.

Arsenal is just a bigger stadium Everton!Jason Cundy The ball came from a corner to the international Gabon and shot another equalizer from just outside the six-yard box.

Bernd Leno pulled off a spectacular diving save shortly afterwards to deny Kenny McLean at the other end.

Second-from-bottom Norwich continued to ask questions and two late efforts were saved by Max Aarons as Ljungberg finished his first game in charge watching his side cling to a point, leaving them seven off Chelsea in fourth place.