A superb Luis Suarez was the difference at Anfield this evening as he hit four of Liverpool's five goals against Norwich, proving himself their tormentor once again. The Uruguayan opened his account after 15 minutes with a brilliant 35-yard strike before adding his second on the half hour mark. He grabbed his hat-trick before the interval with another superb effort and capped it off with a majestic free-kick in the second-half. Norwich pulled one back through Bradley Johnson but it was far too late, especially when Raheem Sterling added his name to the scoresheet later on. In the 15th minute the Reds took the lead the ball was taken down by Luis Suarez who saw John Ruddy off his line and hit a dipping-shot from 35-yards out,which flew into the back of the net to take the Uruguayan's season tally into double figures. Poor marking from Norwich during a corner on the half hour mark presented Suarez with another chance just before the half-hour mark, taking on Coutinho's corner and smashing a first-time shot into the net Suarez struck again six minutes later, flicking the ball over the head of Leroy Fer and into the bottom corner of the net from 25-yards out for his third hat-trick in his last four games against Norwich. At half-time everything was running according to plan for Liverpool and captain Steven Gerrard almost added his name to the scoresheet early in the second period when he met Sterling's cross with a diving header, forcing international teammate Ruddy pulled off a decent save. As the game creeped towards the hour mark Liverpool continued to make Ruddy work, this time forcing him to brilliantly tip Joe Allen's driven effort from distance over the bar and then denying Suarez down low later on. With just over 15 minutes remaining Suarez stepped up to take a free-kick and he dispatched it superbly. His fourth of the evening, curling beyond Ruddy's reach and into the corner. With eight minutes left the visitors pulled one back as Redmond whipped a cross into the box which was glanced in by the head of Bradley Johnson, but it proved far too little, far too late for the Canaries. It almost got even better for Liverpool soon after when Gerrard flicked a lofted ball onto the post, but moments later they notched a fifth Suarez cut the ball back to Raheem Sterling who finished comfortably on 88 minutes. The win ensures Liverpool keep-up with the Champions League race and sit in fourth spot, while Norwich are hovering dangerously above the relegation zone in fourteenth, four points clear of the trapdoor.
Josh has had work featured in the Evening Gazette and on Newcastle United website. He is a Multimedia Journalism student at Teesside University and runs a successful sports blog. He also enjoys films, comics and TV, writing about anything he can. Josh has recently started writing his first of what he hopes will be many books.
