ClapFootball can be taken in a million and one different directions and surprises can happen every single day. However, there are some games where you’re around 99% confident as to what is going to happen – and Norwich City’s clash with Manchester City was one of those games.
As reported by Manchester Evening News and BBC, the Canaries were able to pull off one of the upsets of the season, and potentially history of the Premier League, as they beat the champions 3-2 at Carrow Road.
Norwich had a series of injuries heading into the game, making their odds even greater than usual when it came to trying to get something from Pep Guardiola’s side. Within half an hour, though, they were on cloud nine as McLean and Cantwell put Norwich into a fairly commanding position.
The big shock
Aguero halved the deficit just before half time, but within five minutes of the restart, that man Pukki was able to pounce on a mistake at the back from City to restore their two goal lead.
Rodri ensured that there would be a late twist in the tail after bringing City to within one goal, but they couldn’t find their way through for the equaliser.
Norwich manager Daniel Farke, understandably, was incredibly proud of his team.
“Of course it is a special day for us and for the club, against one of the best teams in the world and when we have so many injuries.
“We had to be special in our plan for City because they are the best team in the world but we had setbacks too with our injuries. We deserve the win, we were exceptional.
“[Ibrahim] Amadou was beautiful today, playing in an unusual position, and a debut for Alex Tettey and Sam Byram too. I can’t praise the lads enough. We had so many things to overcome.
Stand up and be counted
“Teemu [Pukki] was brilliant, not only because of his goals but for his work rate too. Teemu always thinks about the team first, which is why he deserves all of the praise.”
Guardiola, on the other hand, wasn’t about to shy away from what happened.
“Congrats to Norwich. The first goal was from a set-piece and the second on the counter, so credit to them. It is what it is. We have to learn from this and carry on.
“Our passing was not bad. We created chances but we could not score them. They are a really good team with good players with quality, we saw that in the Championship last year. They were clinical today.
“We did not have the urgency in the final third we normally have. In football you can’t always avoid mistakes. I don’t know how many shots we had or how many they had, but football is about goals and about what you do in the boxes.”
Both teams will attempt to re-group now ahead of what is bound to be an interesting few weeks for both clubs in the Premier League and beyond.
