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In what may well be the most shocking shock of the season, Norwich City, recently promoted, sank 3-2 against the defending Premier League champions. The result was achieved thanks to the remarkable performance of Finnish veteran Norwich, Teemu Pukki, and the putrid parade of the two City centers, Nicolás Otamendi and John Stones.
The least surprising part of the match may have occurred when the Canary Islands opened the scoring in the 18th minute. Midfielder Kenny McLean led a corner on goalkeeper Ederson. Seeing the ball net in this configuration was a familiar view of City lately. At present, eight of the last nine goals conceded by the defending champions have been conceded from stopped plays, including four from corner. OptaJoe.
The frequent concession of fixed objectives did not mean that the head was without surprise. McLean's goal was only second time that city had allowed a goal in the first 30 minutes of a Premier League match under Pep Guardiola – the last to argue against Leicester City in December 2016.
City was able to dust off and continue its game plan as if nothing had happened. In the moments that followed the opening of the match, they forced Norwich to defend themselves reactively with some strong pressure, thanks to the efforts of Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling. But the better the chances of City were, the more their sidelines went away, which was soon fatal. After a bad pass from Aguero, Norwich goalkeeper Tim Krul kicked a goal kick to the center line, which was then replaced by Marco Stiepermann by Pukki. The striker waited for Stones to engage with him on the break before sending a center to Todd Cantwell, who doubled the lead of his team.
But City did what City did best, and scored a goal just before half-time in a goal that seemed to be intentionally designed for Aguero to catch up with the head he had missed earlier.
The goal was not enough for City to enter the second half. A rather lazy Otamendi gift from the city placed Norwich striker Emi Buendía in a one-on-one scenario with Ederson. Rather than attack, Buendía managed to pass to Pukki, who scored the third goal of his team's game after a brief fall.
Norwich's oldest but still growing star was a brilliant asset to a team that only managed to get three points in four games. As OptaJoe points out that only Aguero was involved in more goals (nine) than Pukki in his first five appearances in the Premier League (eight: six goals, two assists).
Following the trio of his opponent, City did everything in his power to advance the cavalry and use his superior talent to force at least one draw. However, all they could muster, that's a goal back – a low shot and led from Rodri – before the final whistle, which caused a powerful blast of joy from Carrow Road . The celebrations marked the end of the city's unbeaten run of 25 games against the newly promoted teams, a scope which dates back to March 2015.
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