HomeFeatured ArticlesNorwich vs Liverpool Preview | Team News, Stats and Key Men

Norwich vs Liverpool Preview | Team News, Stats and Key Men

Norwich City, who have been comprehensively beaten in the last two league fixtures host a struggling Liverpool side in the first game of the match day 23 of the Premier League. Despite their latest defeats, the Canaries have been in good form at home, garnering 11 points out of a possible 18 in their last six outings at the Carrow Road. Their visitors, Liverpool, on the other hand, have lost two of their last three away meetings and could well be in for a tough time on Saturday.

norvsliv

Team News

Norwich

Norwich will be without the services of Gary O’Neil who remains suspended for the game as he serves his suspension for the red card he received against Stoke. We believe that Alex Neil will field a almost unaltered side from the one that started in the loss to Bournemouth with young attacker Nathan Redmond expected to replace Odjidja-Ofoe in the line-up.

Expected Line Up

Rudd, Martin, Bennett, Bassong, Brady, Redmond, Howson, Tettey, Jarvis, Hoolahan and Mbokani.

Liverpool

The Reds remain plagued by injuries with Coutinho, Origi, Rossiter, Skrtel Lovren and Sturridge expected to miss the trip to the Carrow Road due to injuries.  However, Jon Flanagan made a return to competitive football against Exeter after missing the last 18 months and could feature in the game against Norwich. The team performed were unlucky to lose out against Manchester United and we believe the performances of the players would mean Klopp is likely to field the same starting line-up that started against United.

Expected Line Up

Mignolet, Clyne, Toure, Sakho, Moreno, Henderson, Can, Milner, Ibe, Lallana and Firmino.

Interesting Facts

  • Liverpool have scored 22 goals in their last 6 PL games against Norwich. However, 12 of them were scored by Luis Suarez alone.
  • This will be the 55th meeting between these two sides in all competitions with Liverpool having won 30 of the previous meetings compared to Norwich’s 11 wins.
  • The last time Norwich between Liverpool was in the 1993-94 season, when they won at Anfield.

Key Players

Nathan Redmond

The 21 year old has already become one of the key ingredients in the Norwich attack with his pace, ability on and off the ball and creativity. He has created 28 chances this season apart from finding the back of the net on 4 occasions (leading goal scorer for Norwich in the league) and would need to put in a stellar performance if Norwich are to cause a major upset.

Redmond loves to draw the defence wide, creating space for the likes of Mbokani and Hoolahan to run into and his off the ball runs could wreck havoc on a Liverpool defence not in the best of shapes over the last few weeks.

Jordan Henderson

Ever since making his come back from injury, the Liverpool captain has been a picture of consistency and industriousness. His partnership with Emre Can has blossomed and things are expected to get better in the months to come. He has controlled the tempo of the games he has featured in while ensuring he does his fair share of dirty work in the middle of the park. Norwich at home can be tricky customers and Henderson will need to control the game alongside Can to ensure Liverpool come out with a positive result.

His finishing remains an area of concern as he often gets into critical positions in and around the box only to fluff the half chances that come his way. Given Liverpool’s lack of goals, its important Henderson gets his finishing right to improve the position of the club in the league table.

Prediction

Norwich’s defensive record has been shaky and the presence of mobile attackers in the form of Firmino, Lallana and Ibe could unsettle the defensive unit. We expect Liverpool to run out 2-1 winners (of course Liverpool won’t keep a clean sheet).

Aditya Upaadhyay
Aditya Upaadhyay
A masters in finance with a passion for football and an urge to work at the intersection of both.
More News

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here