Liverpool start Premier League title bid with swagger against Norwich

There was a moment midway through the first half of this opening game of the new Premier League season when, with Liverpool already two goals ahead, Roberto Firmino killed a cross with his chest, span on his heels and crashed a spectacular volley into Tim Krul’s fists. As his team-mates chased the rebounding ball, Firmino paused, put his hands on his hips and turned towards Anfield’s Main Stand as if to ask: “Are you not entertained?”

It was a display of brilliant insouciance on a night when the returning champions of Europe could afford to be a little cocky. Liverpool raised the curtain and then laid down a marker for their next 37 games to come, rolling newly-promoted Norwich City over by four goals to one, with all of their four coming in the first half. They re-emerged after half time a little too cocksure, perhaps even sloppy, but never not certain of all three points.

Their evening’s only real sour note was the freak injury to a player that the title contenders cannot afford to lose for long. Alisson, their goalkeeper, had to be helped off the pitch towards the end of the first half after appearing to tweak a muscle with a routine kick. His understudy Adrian, who arrived at Anfield just three days ago, made a surprise, 51-minute debut.

For Norwich, there are two main comforts to take: firstly, Daniel Farke and his players know that not every league outing over the next nine months will be against opponents as formidable, as devastating and as ruthless as their hosts here. Secondly, there were the problems they caused Jurgen Klopp’s side, particularly in the opening half hour when several well-fashioned chances were followed by poor finishing.

Teemu Pukki, the 29-goal top scorer in the Championship last year, managed to reduce the arrears midway through the second half, capitalising on a spell of Liverpool complacency. If Norwich are to avoid relegation back to the second tier, the Finn’s goals will be crucial. By the time of his first, however, this game was already won. The result had seemed certain from when centre-half Grant Hanley sliced the ball into his own net after five minutes.

The drop-off in performance and defensive jitters should not be ignored by Klopp, but you sense his side will almost always have the firepower to overcome any minor frailties at the back. After the first, they predictably pressed for more. Mohamed Salah doubled their advantage with what will presumably be his first of many this season, sliding a finish past Krul after a lucky bounce fell his way inside the penalty area.

They have other ways of breaking through an opponent, though. Behind the scenes at the club’s Melwood training ground, set pieces are a subject of particular attention. That is only right for a team that can count on Virgil van Dijk’s towering presence at dead-ball situations, and his low, bullet header from Salah’s inswinging corner added a third before the half-hour mark.

But perhaps the greatest barrier to any title challenge will be the fitness of the front three: Salah, Firmino and Sadio Mané, who was only fit enough for the substitutes’ bench. Their chief reserve and the hero of Madrid, Divock Origi, showed that he is not limited to scoring only important goals. His downward header from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross added the fourth.

“1-0, in the second half,” sang the travelling support during the closing stages. After this bright, valiant performance, they will take hope of survival with them back to East Anglia. But for Liverpool, this new Premier League season brings promise of far greater prizes.