Diaz nets in Liverpool comeback victory over Norwich
Key takeaways:
- Diaz's goal made Liverpool's victory safe after Norwich had endangered a shock.
- Liverpool produced a second-half comeback against a resilient Norwich team to keep their Premier League championship desires alive with an eighth straight victory in all contests.
Liverpool beat Norwich to keep their title hopes alive:
The Reds had intimidated the Norwich goal numerous times. Still, they were shocked into emergency action moments after halftime when Milot Rashica's deflected shot gave the Canaries expectancy of the first victory at Anfield in 28 years.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who made seven modifications to the squad that won at Inter Milan in the Champions League in midweek, interceded to make attacking changes on 62 minutes. Within four minutes, his team had turned the match around.
Sadio Mane acrobatically rode home Konstantinos Tsimikas' header, and Mohamed Salah ran on to a clearance from goalkeeper Alisson Becker to round Angus Gunn and net.
Salah's 17th league goal of the campaign was his 150th in all contests for Liverpool - making him one of only ten males to reach that figure for the club - and Luis Diaz added his first since joining from Porto with a neat, chipped finish to close the victory.
Klopp's team moves to Manchester City within six points of league heads before the champions' late game, while Norwich falls to bottom place and is five points from safety.
Reds remain calm as changes prove critical
While the stats will show a Liverpool victory produced from 29 attempts and 70% possession, Norwich can feel just hard done after showing great character for over an hour.
Their 4-3-3 plan slickly fell into a 4-5-1 out of possession, and Dean Smith's side looked to play out from the back, despite the danger of a Liverpool press that worked to win the ball back six times in the last third in the first 45 minutes.