Norwich took care of Bournemouth 3-1 at Carrow Road on Saturday afternoon. Cameron Jerome opened up the scoring in the thirty-fifth minute. After putting the cross into Jerome for the first goal, Wes Hoolahan grabbed the second goal of the game early in the second half. The home team continued to pile on the pressure, and just fifteen minutes after the second goal the third one arrived through new loan signing Matt Jarvis. Steve Cook scored a late consolation for Bournemouth in a similar fashion to Sunderland.
Alex Neil made two changes to his starting line-up from the 3-0 defeat at Southampton just before the international break. Andre Wisdom came in for the suspended Steven Whittaker at right back, and new signing Matt Jarvis came in for Graham Dorrans on the left wing. Norwich started out the better team, as they held a lot of the possession in the early stages. Bassong saw a header go wide, and Tettey also hit one well over the bar. The chances were not as clear cut as they were against Stoke, but the home team still controlled the game.
The breakthrough came just ten minutes before the interval. Wes Hoolahan streamed down the left hand side. He then skinned Adam Smith and moved into the penalty area, drawing the keeper out to the corner of the six yard box. All that was left to do was to slide the ball across the face of goal, where Jerome had a simple finish. Callum Wilson also had a chance just before half-time, but John Ruddy managed to save it. Norwich took that crucial Jerome goal into the break.
The Canaries started the second half with that same initiative to go forward. Seven minutes after the restart it was 2-0. Hoolahan drove through the midfield, and put a smart finish into the bottom corner. The pressure was piled on even harder, with Robbie Brady hitting the post. Soon enough that pressure paid off. Jarvis went on a similar run through the middle that Hoolahan did. But instead of tucking the ball into the corner, he slammed it into the top left hand corner in front of the Barclay.
Unfortunately for Norwich, Bournemouth picked up a late consolation goal from a Steve Cook header. However it did not change the result, only the fact City remain without a clean sheet this season.
We had a game plan and the players carried it out perfectly. They were excellent today, a great team performance.
We were the dominant team in the game. We scored three good goals and could have had more. Matt Jarvis gives us a different dimension. He’s got pace and he topped a good performance with a goal. I thought it was a thoroughly impressive ninety minutes.
Apart from conceding an annoying late goal, it was a very pleasing performance from the Yellows. That gives Norwich seven points from five games, and moves them up to eighth in the table. It also gives them some breathing space ahead of their first meeting against one of the big boys: Liverpool at Anfield next week.
