Omobamidele taking positives after defeat on Premier League debut

Ireland defender, Andrew Omobamidele, is confident Norwich City can recover from their early Premier League struggles to survive the drop.

Daniel Farke handed the 19-year-old his first top-flight start in Saturday’s trip to Arsenal and, although the Leixlip native held his own, the Canaries were undone by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s controversial second-half winner.

Omobamidele, fresh from starring for Ireland’s in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw against Serbia, is confident that the Championship winners can bounce back from four defeats on the spin – especially after ‘dominating’ for spells against the Gunners.

Norwich host fellow newly-promoted side Watford on Saturday.

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“I think it was a good performance against Arsenal, one we can be proud of,” said Andrew.

“When I watched the goal on the screen, my immediate reaction was that it was offside, and I thought the linesman was going to flag.

“Our goal (against Leicester) was ruled offside and those moments at this level are so costly.

“I think they were stages in the game where we strung two or three passes together and we were arriving in the final third. There’s large portions of the game that we dominated.

“The boys at the back defended well from crosses, so there are a lot of positives. I know it is early on and it is fresh and we might be a bit down but there are a lot of positives that we can take. Your season isn’t defined by the opening four games.”

It’s not even the midway point of September but this month has delivered unforgettable memories for Omobamidele.

An injury to Dara O’Shea in the first half of Ireland’s World Cup qualifier in Faro gave the opportunity of testing himself against Cristiano Ronaldo on his debut. Then came his first start in midweek, followed by his Premier League bow.

“This that I want to be playing at and this is the type of opposition that I want to be playing against, week in, week out my whole career,” he added. “So to play against them at a young age is a valuable experience.”