Liverpool go 25 points clear with win at Norwich

NOT even the elements can tame Liverpool. Not even the gale that blew across Carrow Road. Not even the rain that swirled in the floodlight glare and stung in fierce squalls can thwart them.

Nor a Norwich side fighting an increasingly forlorn battle for survival at the foot of the table. Nothing can stop their inexorable march towards the title.

Storm Dennis frustrated them for a while and threatened to knock them out of their stride with the challenges it presented to their passing. And Norwich did their bit with some fine football of their own. But there is an inevitability about Liverpool winning these days. It is, after all, October 20 since they last dropped a point.

There were 12 minutes to go when they finally got the breakthrough their play had deserved. The Premier League’s top team beat the bottom side with a brilliant goal from second-half substitute Sadio Mane, returning after injury.

‘We shall not be moved,’ the Liverpool fans sang, over and over again after their 1-0 win. They have earned the right to celebrate after their 30 years of hurt.

Both teams battled gamely against the conditions in the first half. Both refused to compromise their style too much. Despite the intense pressure they were put under by the Liverpool press, Norwich persisted in trying to beat it with their clever passing out from the back and put together several promising moves that foundered in the final third.

Jurgen Klopp’s men were their usual relentless selves. Some had assumed that Trent Alexander Arnold’s ability to test the opposition defence with beautifully judged long passes would be negated by the wind and swirling rain. But the Liverpool right-back was not deterred. Time and again, he spread the Norwich defence with perfectly flighted 40-yard balls out to Andy Robertson on the left.

Liverpool dominated possession but could not convert it into goalscoring opportunities. Tim Krul was barely tested. Alexander Arnold flashed one shot wide in the first minute of the half and another one just before the interval. Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah nearly found a path through the back four with a clever interchange of passes but were foiled by a defender’s intervention.

In fact, it was Norwich who forged the first clear chance of the game 10 minutes before half-time, when Lukas Rupp ran on to a raking long ball over the top of the Liverpool defence and took it down with his first touch.

Confronted by Alisson, who had rushed to the edge of his area to meet him, Rupp’s nerve seemed to fail him and instead of shooting, he tried to lay the ball off to former Celtic striker Teemu Pukki. The chance disappeared in that second.

Pukki pulled his right foot back to shoot but Alisson had anticipated what he was going to do. He flung himself to his right and was close enough to push the ball away and the danger was gone. It was another reminder of how important to his team the Brazilian keeper has become.

It was a glimmer of hope for Norwich but Liverpool pushed them back for the rest of the half. Alexander-Arnold was still prominent in their attacks and their set-pieces, probing with a series of corners from the Norwich right and a free-kick from the edge of the penalty box.

Norwich, and Krul, were equal to them all, although there was one alarm when a Robertson cross created some confusion between Krul and Christoph Zimmermann. Both assumed the other was going to claim the loose ball and left it. Then both tried to deal with it and Zimmermann headed it out of Krul’s grasp before Salah put them both out of their misery by crossing it into Krul’s hands.

Liverpool resumed their siege of the Norwich area after the interval and Krul tipped over a shot from Naby Keita. Virgil van Dijk rose highest from the resulting corner but could only direct a tame header straight at Krul.

The keeper had to work a lot harder to keep Liverpool out soon afterwards. Salah pulled down a high ball beautifully in the Norwich area and, even though he was surrounded by defenders, he managed to turn and fire a low right-foot shot towards goal from 10 yards out.

Krul got down sharply to his right and palmed the ball away but it popped up invitingly for Keita, who was inside the six-yard box. It seemed the Guinean only had to make contact to score but somehow Krul recovered and smothered the shot at point-blank range. His team-mates surrounded him to congratulate him.

After another sustained burst of Liverpool pressure, Norwich nearly scored again, 18 minutes from time. Todd Cantwell led a lightning break down the left before turning inside and playing a ball across the face of the area to Alex Tettey. He let the ball run across his body and took it so wide that it seemed the chance to shoot had gone. But then he unleashed a low drive that caught Alisson by surprise and cannoned off the base of the post.

Then Liverpool hit back. Jordan Henderson, many people’s favourite for the Footballer of the Year even amidst the stellar cast he is a part of, lofted a long ball forwards towards Mane. Norwich claimed the Senegalese had pushed Zimmermann, but this time there was to be no shelter from the storm. Mane leapt to control it brilliantly with his outstretched right foot and then turned and lashed it past Krul with his left.

Firmino should have put Liverpool two up four minutes from time when Alexander-Arnold drilled another cross into his path, but the Brazil striker lifted it high over the crossbar from a few yards out to general consternation and a sense of disbelief.

It did not dampen Liverpool spirits much.

NORWICH (4-4-1-1): Krul; Aarons, Zimmermann, Hanley, Byram (Lewis 27); Tettey (Drmic 84), McLean, Rupp (Emi 83), Duda; Cantwell; Pukki.

Subs (not used): Godfrey, Vrancic, Hernandez, Fahrmann. Booked: Hanley.

LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, van Dijk, Robertson; Keita (Milner 84), Henderson, Wijnaldum (Fabinho 60); Salah, Firmino, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Mane 60). Subs (not used):

Lovren, Adrian, Lallana, Origi. Booked: Keita, Mane.

Referee: Stuart Attwell. Attendance: 27,110.