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    Liverpool vs Norwich news: Jubilant Reds to continue trophy assault with win over Canaries

    Dave TindallDave Tindall1 March 2022
    Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp celebrates after winning the Carabao Cup final at Wembley Stadium, London. Picture date: Sunday 27th February, 2022

    Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp celebrates after winning the Carabao Cup final at Wembley Stadium, London. Picture date: Sunday 27th February, 2022

    The Merseysiders edged out Chelsea on penalties to lift the Carabao Cup at the weekend and can book their place in the last eight of the FA Cup on Wednesday.

    After finally getting his first taste of Wembley glory, Jurgen Klopp will have his eyes on more when the Reds continue their bid to win the FA Cup with a fifth-round home tie against Norwich on Wednesday night.

    Liverpool were taken all the way by Chelsea in arguably one of the best 0-0s ever seen in Sunday's Carabao Cup final and coming out on the right side of such a tight and tough match will give the Merseysiders an extra spring in their step.

    This is a quick return to Anfield for Norwich, who were defeated 3-1 in the Premier League there less than a fortnight ago.

    They will have been happy to see the hosts play 120 gruelling minutes at Wembley but know that a lot must go their way if they're to stop Liverpool staying on track for an assault on all four major trophies.

    When: Wednesday, March 02, 20:15 GMT

    Where: Anfield

    How to watch: ITV

    Follow this game via our score centre

    Who is the ref for Liverpool vs Norwich

    Martin Atkinson gets the nod for the Anfield clash.

    The Yorkshire official booked just one player (Jordan Henderson) in Liverpool's recent win at Burnley but he showed six yellows and a red (Thomas Partey) in the Reds' 2-0 Carabao Cup semi win at Arsenal.
    He flashed five yellows when taking charge of Norwich v Southampton in November.

    Season stats 2021/22: All games (17), yellows (41), red (3), penalties (6)

    Recent form

    With the Chelsea clash finishing 0-0 at full-time, that technically ended Liverpool's run of nine straight wins.
    But from another point of view, the Reds' players have now ended their last 10 assignments with a Klopp hug.
    That run includes a 3-1 win over Norwich and also a 3-1 success over Cardiff in the last round of the FA Cup.
    Those two goals plus one by Crystal Palace are the only times Liverpool have conceded in their last 11 matches.
    Norwich were showing a revival after back-to-back Premier League wins over Everton and Watford and a 1-0 FA Cup success at Wolves.
    Dean Smith, manager of Norwich City
    But they've now lost their last three matches following a 4-0 home loss to Manchester City, that 3-1 reverse at Anfield and a 2-0 defeat at Southampton at the weekend.
    Yes, they were tough fixtures but scoring just once and conceding nine goals doesn't suggest the Canaries have it in them to stun the Anfield crowd.

    Liverpool players in form

    Virgil van Dijk was man-of-the-match at Wembley and that confirmed the belief that the Dutchman is back to his imperious best.

    Liverpool now have five clean sheets in their last six matches.
    Luis Diaz has been an instant hit since joining the Merseysiders in the January transfer window and got his first goal for the club in the win over Norwich.
    He joins a frontline of Mo Salah, Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane, who occupy first, second and third in the Premier League scoring charts with 19, 12 and 11 goals respectively.
    It's hard to find a Liverpool player not in fine form right now.
    Milot Rashica was Norwich's best player at Anfield a week ago last Saturday and capped his display by putting the Canaries in front.
    He'll hope to cause them more problems on Wednesday.

    Last three Premier League meetings

    Liverpool 3-1 Norwich (February 19, 2022)

    After a goalless first half, Norwich took a shock lead in the 48th minute when Rashica's deflected strike left Alisson Becker stranded.

    But it merely stirred the beast as Liverpool hit back with two goals in four minutes. Mane hooked in Kostas Tsmikas's header before Becker found Salah with a perfect clearance and the Egyptian rolled the ball home after some neat footwork.

    Liverpool sealed victory when Henderson picked out new signing, Diaz, who scored his first goal for the Reds with a well-taken chipped finish over Angus Gunn.

    Norwich 0-3 Liverpool (August 14, 2021)

    Liverpool kicked off the new season with a comfortable and expected win at Carrow Road.
    Salah was the star of the show, setting up goals for Jota (26) and Roberto Firmino (65) before finding the net himself with 16 minutes left.
    In doing so, he became the first player to score on opening weekend in five consecutive Premier League campaigns.

    Norwich 0-1 Liverpool (February 15, 2021)

    Liverpool were relentless in their triumphant 2019/2020 campaign and victory here put them an astonishing 25 points clear at the top.
    Norwich didn't make it easy though and it took a 78th-minute goal from Mane to secure another three points.
    More remarkable was the fact that victory meant the Reds had racked up 35 wins and a draw from their past 36 games.

    Past 10 meetings

    Liverpool wins: 9

    Draws: 1

    Norwich wins: 0

    Liverpool scored: 33

    Norwich scored: 10

    Manager's thoughts

    Jurgen Klopp: "No team in the history of English football has won the quadruple, right? That is because it is incredibly difficult.
    "We are still behind Manchester City (in the Premier League). We are not close to thinking about any crazy stuff like that.
    "We are close to nothing at the moment. It is better people think we can do good things than we are useless but it is not important or helpful.
    "We face a lot of good teams between now and the end of May. We just want to think about Norwich (in the FA Cup on Wednesday)."

    Dean Smith: "I think that win can be leaned on. It's nice to have players with those experiences already," he said about players with experience of good memories in the FA Cup.

    "We know that we are more than capable of competing at this level. We need a little bit of fortune and I feel that Liverpool will change their line-up having played 120 minutes. Hopefully we can get the victory that we want."

    Predicted Liverpool vs Norwich teams

    Thiago Alcantara had to be taken out of the Liverpool starting XI at Wembley after injuring himself in the warm-up. He'll sit this one out too.
    Roberto Firmino is still out but otherwise Klopp has a full squad to choose from.
    After playing extra-time, it's likely he'll shuffle the pack and give starts to some of his squad players such as Divock Origi, Joe Gomez, Curtis Jones and Taki Minamino.
    Wembley hero Caoimhin Kelleher has played in both FA Cup ties so far and is likely to get the nod in goal again.

    Possible Liverpool starting line-up: Kelleher, Gomez, Tsimikas, Van Dijk, Konate, Elliott, Milner, Jones, Jota, Origi, Minamino.

    Norwich are without captain Grant Hanley, who is serving a suspension.
    Christoph Zimmerman is set to deputise.

    Possible Norwich line-up: Gunn, Aarons, Zimmerman, Gibson, Williams, Normann, Lees-Melou, McLean, Sargent, Rashica, Pukki.

    Liverpool vs Norwich prediction

    Dean Smith's men gave Liverpool a decent test at Anfield a couple of weeks ago and have done well in this tournament so far with 1-0 away wins at Charlton and Wolves.
    But although the hosts may be far from full strength, Klopp's back-up players have served him well this season and the bench is likely to be packed with cavalry if the starting XI run into problems.
    However you cook it, the Reds are big favourites again and a repeat of their 3-1 Premier League win seems a viable scoreline.

    READ MORE: The Liverpool quadruple - can they win all four?

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