THE EMIRATES: There were 12 minutes on the clock, and little happening on the pitch, when the protest planned against Arsene Wenger began, 12 minutes for every year since he won the third of his league titles, and it would be fair to say that this one will not go down in history as the Premier League's Prague Spring.
There were a good deal of the A4 printouts declaring "Time for Change", and another less popular template that compared the Arsenal manager unfavourably to his Leicester City counterpart: "Wenger - 12 years of excuses, Ranieri, nine months, champions". One man had brought his very own: "Pain is temporary, Arsene is forever" and no one was quite sure whether he was, to use the Twitter norm, #WengerIn or #WengerOut.
When the printouts were raised and allegiances declared there began, certainly among the crowd in front of the press-box, a few isolated incidents of bickering as supporters divided over their attitudes to the 66-year-old Frenchman. There was no violence but tempers were raised sufficiently that stewards led two men away after one altercation, but this being Arsenal they were discreetly returned to their seats when the mood had calmed down.
As the division spread around the stadium, the Wengerists - or perhaps just the anti-protest element - seized their opportunity. This protest was going nowhere and so they turned it into a brief rally of support for their embattled manager with a rare rendition of "There's only one Arsene Wenger". That was once a regular refrain around Highbury and the Emirates in the early days of its existence but perhaps these days it counts as a protest song.
Before the game, the Anti-Wengers had gathered on the roundabout, where the Hornsey Road and Benwell Road meet, for a rally with the "Time to say goodbye" banner, although there were only around 50 individuals there and it was mainly for the benefit of the cameras. Of the tens of thousands who were not on the roundabout, the mood seemed to be mixed.
Not many of them can say with certainty that they still believe in Wenger, but they feel that there is much wrong with being so brutal in telling him to go. He has one year left on his contract and even after him blaming the supporters this week for the atmosphere you get the impression that the silent majority do not want to see him sacked before the end of this deal.
On the pitch, the first half was dreadful and it was Danny Welbeck, a substitute before the hour, who saved the day for Wenger. His nicely executed right-foot volley from Olivier Giroud's smart knockdown was the only goal of the game although Norwich had the better chances in the first half.
In the first half Wenger's team were just about going through the motions, but failed to breach the tight, compact defensive formation that Norwich employed. In fact, they barely grazed it.
Instead the best three chances of the half fell to Norwich and to Nathan Redmond in particular, from his position on the right. When Norwich did have the space the ball was moved around well by Wes Hoolahan, playing just behind striker Cameron Jerome. It was Hoolahan's cross on six minutes that Redmond struck right-footed and forced a save from Petr Cech.
The Arsenal goalkeeper did the same four minutes from the end of the half when Redmond pulled away from Nacho Monreal and again hit a right-footed shot that Cech saved. The England Under-21 international had another shot in injury-time at the end of the first half when he pulled away from Per Mertesacker on the edge of the area and hit the ball just wide. Mertesacker went off injured five minutes into the second half and was replaced with Gabriel who later made a critical tackle on the Norwich striker Dieumerci Mbokani, another substitute, when he had a sight of goal.
When Wenger replaced Alex Iwobi with Welbeck, the fans booing suggested strongly that they wanted Giroud replaced instead.
The subsequent Welbeck goal made by Giroud at least demonstrated that Wenger was right on that count, and his team held out with very few chances for Norwich in the second half, Mohamed Elneny had a shot saved. Norwich ran out of ideas and even with Cameron Jerome and Mbokani playing in a two-pronged attack, they were reasonably comfortably dealt with by Arsenal's defence.
This was one game where Wenger could not afford to drop points, although you might say that about them all now. From the glass half-full perspective, his team are third and within two points of Tottenham who play their game in hand against Chelsea tomorrow. For Norwich, it was a worrying afternoon in which both Newcastle and Sunderland picked up points. Alex Neil's team are 19th with three games to go against Manchester United and Watford at home and away at Everton.
As time ran down and they became ever more desperate, goalkeeper John Ruddy was sent up for the final corner.
The concern for Neil will be where his goals come from if his team are to stay in the Premier League. Mbokani and Jerome barely got in on goal and his best moves had come when Hoolahan and Redmond had connected.
Defensively, Norwich look relatively sound but in attack they had a few chances and failed to take them. All told, this was a very low quality game.
Before then, with 10 minutes left, Arsenal in the lead and events relatively becalmed, a middle-aged chap behind Wenger had stood up and held aloft his "Enough is enough" printout, although why he had chosen that moment was not clear. There were more protest printouts at the final whistle including a banner that declared "Every good story has an ending, Au Revoir Arsene." Another printout read "No further alcohol will be sold at this fixture". No concerns for Wenger in that regard. That one had just been stolen from the bar and was being waved by a Norwich fan.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Cech 7; Bellerin 6, Mertesacker 6 (Gabriel, 50), Koscielny 7, Monreal 6; Ramsey 6, Elneny 6; Sanchez 6 (Coquelin, 85), Ozil 6, Iwobi 6 (Welbeck, 55); Giroud 6.
Subs Wilshere, Ospina (gk), Walcott, Cazorla. Booked Ozil
Norwich City (4-2-3-1): Ruddy 6; Pinto 5, Martin 6, Bassong 6 (Jarvis, 90), Olsson 6; O'Neil 5, Howson 5; Redmond 6, Hoolahan 6 (Mbokani, 68), Brady 6
(Naismith, 77); Jerome 5.
Subs Whittaker, Mbokani, Rudd (gk), Dorrans, Mulumbu.
Referee Mike Jones (Wirral)