‘WE’VE KOPPED A GREAT START’

DANIEL FARKE claims Norwich are not scared of facing Liverpool – even though he thinks they are probably the world’s best team.

Farke’s Norwich side travel to Anfield for the Premier League’s opening fixture on Friday, August 9, and the German knows how tough a challenge that will be.

But the Canaries boss (above) refuses to be daunted and says the Pemier League new boys will relish facing all the top sides.

“It’s an exciting game for our supporters and the whole club,” he said. “We are not naive. We know it’s probably the toughest fixture you could get in your first game.

“They are champions of Europe so that makes them the best team in Europe, probably the world.

“They have an unbelievable stadium with world-class players and a world-class manager and they’ll be desperate to get their party started.

“But we are not scared. We want to play against the best teams. We’ve worked extremely hard for this opportunity to be competitive against the top teams in the country and we will be greedy to bring our football on to the pitch.”

Sheffield United, who finished runners-up to Norwich in the Championship last season, begin at Bournemouth and Enda Stevens is on a high after seeing their fixtures. But he knows Chris Wilder’s Blades are in for a nightmare start to 2020 when they play Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City in January.

“That was the one that caught the eye,” he said.

“January looks really tough. That’s what you want. You want to prove yourself as a footballer.

“This was the day it really sunk in. This morning I woke up with loads of texts from my friends about when we were playing Manchester United and Liverpool.

“That buzz is back. I have got three weeks off to relax and clear my head and then look forward to pre-season.”

Aston Villa, the third promoted side, have a difficult start when they face Champions League finalists Tottenham away in their opening game.

We are not scared by Liverpool... we want to play against all the best teams