High-Flying Liverpool Treat Norwich City To A Four-Star EPL Welcome
10th August 2019
The European champions are aiming to end a 30-year wait to win the Premier League after missing out by only one point to Manchester City last season despite amassing a club-record 97 points
- Liverpool taught newly-promoted Norwich a lesson on the opening night of the new Premier League season with a 4-1 win at Anfield on Friday to lay down an early marker in the title race
- Norwich captain Grant Hanley's hapless own goal just seven minutes in set the tone for what could be a long season for the Canaries before Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Divock Origi made it 4-0 at half-time
- Much tougher tests lie ahead for Jurgen Klopp's men, but they picked up where they left off in winning their final nine Premier League games of last season and lifting a sixth European Cup in Madrid
LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom- Liverpool taught newly-promoted Norwich a lesson on the opening night
of the new Premier League season with a 4-1 win at Anfield on Friday to lay
down an early marker in the title race.
Norwich captain
Grant Hanley's hapless own goal just seven minutes in set the tone for what
could be a long season for the Canaries before Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk
and Divock Origi made it 4-0 at half-time.
Teemu Pukki pulled a
goal back for Norwich in the second half as Liverpool took their foot off the
gas after the break.
The European
champions are aiming to end a 30-year wait to win the Premier League after
missing out by only one point to Manchester City last season despite amassing a
club-record 97 points.
Much tougher tests
lie ahead for Jurgen Klopp's men, but they picked up where they left off in
winning their final nine Premier League games of last season and lifting a
sixth European Cup in Madrid.
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Origi was an
unlikely hero of that Champions League triumph as he scored twice in the
stunning 4-0 semi-final win over Barcelona and again in the final over
Tottenham.
The Belgian kept his
place in the side as Sadio Mane was left on the bench after his exertions on
international duty in reaching the final of the Africa Cup of Nations with
Senegal last month.
And it was from
Origi's cross that Hanley's wild hack at a clearance flashed beyond Tim Krul in
the Norwich goal.
Salah was also in
action at the AFCON but his disappointment as Egypt were dumped out on home
soil in the last 16 by South Africa could be Liverpool's gain as he returned to
pre-season earlier than expected.
A Golden Boot winner
in each of the past two seasons, Salah opened his account for the season with a
calm finish from Roberto Firmino's pass on 19 minutes.
- Ranting Klopp -
Despite a
comfortable lead, Klopp was soon ranting at his players for letting their guard
down as only a brilliant save from Alisson Becker prevented Marco Stiepermann
from halving Norwich's deficit.
Seconds later and it
was 3-0 as Norwich's dreadful defending was exposed again to leave Van Dijk
free to head home from a Salah corner.
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Alisson then pulled
up with a suspected calf problem in the only negative of the night for
Liverpool with Adrian coming on to make his debut just days after joining the
club on a free transfer.
The Spaniard was
able to watch on from the other end as Origi made it 4-0 with a simple header
from Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross.
Liverpool could have
piled on more pain for the visitors at the start of the second half as Jordan
Henderson hit the bar, Firmino fluffed a glorious chance at the back post and
Salah curled just wide.
However, it was
Norwich's adventure that was rewarded as moments after Moritz Leitner crashed a
shot against the bar, Pukki pounced to drill low past Adrian.