Man City have won all five of their Premier League home games against Swansea, scoring 12 goals in the process. Lukaku and Deulofeu are now the most profitable assist to goal scorer partnership in the Premier League, with Deulofeu assisting on six of Lukaku’s goals.
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The 29-year-old, who was back in Glasgow to sponsor a Christmas lunch organised by the Loaves and Fishes charity for the city’s homeless, said: ‘When Norwich were interested in me in the summer, it was the manager who said he didn’t want it to happen. Arouna Kone twice had the Norwich keeper Declan Rudd one-on-one, only to be stifled by Rudd’s assertive goal keeping.
Lukaku was on the scoresheet again after just 15 minutes as Norwich, lively at the start, were exposed again in what has been their major weakness this season, conceding a goal from a cross for the 11th time.
The Canaries goalkeeper appeared beaten when Leighton Baines got forward and struck a fierce right-footed volley which crashed back off the post on 39 minutes.
There was no shortage of effort from the Merseyside club on Monday evening at home to Crystal Palace, but some strong defending kept them at bay for long spells and for a few minutes it looked at though they could fall to a sucker punch after going behind with less than a quarter of an hour left.
After the break, Norwich came out stronger and scored within 65 seconds of the restart, although Martinez insists there was no drop in intensity from his side in the second half. Norwich came out aggressively and equalized in 46th minute.
The Belgian was on target once again for Everton. Wes Hoolahan pounced on the loose ball and was able to squeak one by a waiting Barkley.
“Then, second half we had to defend two corners and one of them ends up in the back of the net”.
Norwich City have made a positive impact since their promotion into the Premier League but the Canaries have recently been dragged into the relegation mire following a run of poor results.
The biggest area of doubt seems to be up front, with Cameron Jerome, Lewis Grabban and Dieumerci Mbokani all being rotated regularly.
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Both Deulofeu and Ross Barkley, who had a near invisible afternoon, were subbed. Any squad that can afford to leave players such as Kevin Mirallas and Aaron Lennon on the bench isn’t short on depth. On that occasion, the match ended 1-1 after goals from Leon Osman and Sebastian Bassong for their respective sides, but it would be the Toffees who would prevail and progress to the quarter-finals after winning 4-3 in a dramatic penalty shoot-out.
