Liverpool vs Norwich City Preview/Expected 11/Prediction

Liverpool play host to Norwich City on Sunday afternoon as they look to record their first victory in all competitions since August 17, when they edged past Bournemouth.

Norwich travel to Merseyside having failed to overcome Liverpool in over two decades, but seven points from their first five Premier League fixtures represents their best start to a top-flight campaign since 1993.

Brendan Rodgers would have been delighted with a return of seven points from three Premier League games from his newly-assembled squad but over the past few weeks, a number of problems have been exposed at Anfield.Whereas for Norwich, After seeing his side thoroughly outplayed by Southampton before the international break, Norwich City boss Alex Neil may have feared that having two weeks to lick their wounds would not be overly beneficial to his side.

The Merseyside giants look as uncertain in defence as they did last year, while their failure to directly replace Raheem Sterling has seen them lack pace and directness in the final third. Some of the arrivals will need time to settle, but so far, they are not performing like a team who have top-four aspirations.

The 3-1 defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford drew criticism for their failure to create enough clear-cut chances. Their tactics seem focused on trying to bring Christian Benteke into play, but aside from his wonder goal last week, he too does not appear entirely happy with his game.

However, Norwich showed against Bournemouth last weekend that they are capable of picking up results against teams of a similar level to themselves, and that has given the Canaries the platform to play without fear as they attempt to end a horrendous run against Liverpool.

Liverpool still sit in 10th place in the table, one position behind Sunday's opponents, but after being humbled by West Ham United in front of their own fans last time out, they cannot afford another defeat this weekend.

One of the surprise packages  for Norwich of the first few weeks of the season has been Wes Hoolahan, who has provided the most assists in the Premier League, and the Irishman was particularly influential against Bournemouth last weekend when he was given the freedom to run at the Cherries defence.

What does the Manager say?

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers: "We now have players hopefully coming back, which will add to the squad and see us go on a run of games where we can perform well and get the victories.

"And the reality is we are only a few points off where we'd want to be and there is still a long way to go.
"It is about never getting too carried away if you win or disappointed if you lose."

Norwich City manager Alex Neil: "Brendan Rodgers has proved himself as a manager. He nearly won the league with Liverpool.

"I don't buy this [talk of] 'Liverpool are in crisis'. Liverpool have got good players, they're well managed and they'll be a danger to any team in the league.
"We've got to go to Anfield believing that we can win. I think that's the biggest bit, the players must go there and believe that they can do that."

Team News:

Coutinho is expected to form part of Liverpool's lineup in the final third after serving his one-match suspension for his red card against West Ham.

Jordan Henderson and Daniel Sturridge will both be assessed over the weekend, while Mamadou Sakho could earn a starting role in defence after impressing in the Europa League.

As for Norwich, they will be without full-back Andre Wisdom, who is ineligible to face his parent club, while Gary Hooper and Youssouf Mulumbu are absent through injury.However, the Canaries are boosted by the return of Steven Whittaker, who missed the last fixture because of a ban.

Expected 11:

Liverpool:

Mignolet
Clyne
Skrtel
Sakho
Gomez
Lucas
Can
Milner
Coutinho
Ings
Benteke

Norwich City:

Ruddy
Whittaker
Martin
Bassong
Brady
Redmond
Howson
Tettey Jarvis
Hoolahan
Jerome

Prediction

Liverpool 2-0 Norwich City

While Liverpool no longer possess the attacking artillery of Sterling and Luis Suarez, we believe that they can return to winning ways with a comfortable win at the weekend. Norwich bring a threat to Anfield, but they will be facing a team who know that improvements are needed if they are to remain in touch with the early pacesetters.

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