Norwich City vs. Liverpool: Preview, Team News, and Ways to Watch

Norwich City vs. Liverpool

| Saturday, February 15th |
Premier League | Carrow Road
5:30PM GMT / 12:30PM EST

Liverpool’s weekend fixture is at the home of the Premier League’s current worst team. Norwich City sit rock bottom having only won four games this season. Manager Daniel Farke brought the Canaries into the league after an impressive Championship title win last season. The German has managed a few good performances out of his team, including a 3-2 victory over Manchester City in September, but the top flight has so far proved a bridge too far.

Norwich have a tendency to concede late goals and they particularly seem to perform poorly overall in the second half. Most of the goals from Teemu Pukki (11) and friends have been scored in the first half of Norwich’s matches. The defense then does its best to undue the team’s progress after the restart.

Farke has also had difficulty finding a centre-back partnership to hang his hat on. Injuries and suspensions have hampered his defensive plans of late. But Norwich are expected to have a largely full-strength team on the pitch at Carrow Road this weekend.

Projected Liverpool Lineup (4-3-3)

Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Salah, Firmino, Mané

Liverpool beat Norwich 4-1 at Anfield on the opening day of the season, conceding late, it must be said, from a second half strike by Pukki. The Reds have gone on to dominate the league, sitting on top with a 22-point gap until you get to Manchester City in second place.

Every Liverpool player seems to have taken a step up this season. Jürgen Klopp has weathered an injury crisis or two and the team just keeps winning games. A winning mentality runs though the team and they are not only playing to win the league but to also retain their Champions League title.

A trip to Norwich should be a guaranteed three points for Liverpool considering the span in quality between the two sides. And Klopp’s players have proved time and again this season that there’s no need for supporters to be worried about a slip in form. Still, we can’t help but fuss.

The winter break has hopefully done its job of enhancing Klopp’s players ahead of the difficult period of games on the calendar. After a time of rest and recovery away from training, Melwood has had a buzz of activity this week as player’s returned to Merseyside and began preparing for the trip to Norwich City.

Sadio Mané and James Milner are both in contention for the match day squad on Saturday after recovering from their injuries over the break. Other players with aches and pains will have used the time off to let those ailments heal and will be in tip top shape for the coming weeks, too.

My logical brain tells me that Mané won’t be included in the XI, with Klopp planning to get him on for 20 or 30 minutes in the second half. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Takumi Minamino both played well in attacking positions in Mané’s absence and either could do the job against Norwich. But I also think Mané will start. Because life should be fun.

What the Managers Said

Jürgen Klopp: “They caused 95 per cent of all the teams they played against real problems. At the end they lost a lot of these games – that’s why they are in the situation they are.”

Daniel Farke: “We have to pick ourselves up. It is all I can ask for. I can’t ask for a miracle.”

The Officials

Referee: Stuart Attwell
Assistant referees: Simon Long, Sian Massey-Ellis
Fourth official: David Coote
VAR: Paul Tierney
Assistant VAR: Simon Bennett

Kickoff is set for 5:30PM GMT/12:30PM EST tomorrow, and television listings for the match can be found on LiveSoccerTV.

In the meantime, and as always, we’ll be keeping you updated with all the buildup to the game, including team news as it’s released, our live matchday thread, and post-match recaps from The Liverpool Offside staff. If you want to join the discussion, sign up for an SB Nation account to have your say on the action as it happens.