The new Premier League season finally kicks off, all eyes will be upon Anfield on Friday evening, when vice-champions Liverpool take on newly-promoted side Norwich City. The two teams have last met during the 2015-2016 season, when Norwich got relegated. During that campaign the Canaries grabbed a surprising 1-1 draw at Anfield and the reverse fixture was quite a thriller, Liverpool eventually won it 5-4 after Norwich had a 3-1 lead. The last time Norwich defeated Liverpool was in 1994.
Liverpool have kicked off the new season with a lost trophy, they faced Manchester City in the FA Community Shield last weekend and eventually lost on penalties after having secured a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes of play. The Reds have not made too many transfers this season, they have allowed fringe players like Simon Mignolet, Danny Ings and Alberto Moreno to leave and they brought in backup goalie Adrian and 17-year-old Dutchman Sepp van den Berg. Nathaniel Clyne is ruled out for the home side, Sadio Mane is lacking fitness after having played at the Africa Cup of Nations this summer, while James Milner has a slight knock.
Norwich had a fantastic season in the Championship, they won the league with an impressive tally of 94 points and just six matches lost during the whole campaign. The last time they lost a competitive match was in February, and they recovered from that defeat with an eight-game winning streak. However, there's a big difference between the Championship and the Premier League and the Canaries might not be ready for it. They have signed seven new players this summer, the most expensive was goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann with a fee worth 2.7 million pounds. Christoph Zimmermann, Louis Thompson and Alexander Tettey are injured for the visitors, while Timm Klose is a doubt.
Probable line-ups:
Liverpool: Alisson - Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson - Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Henderson - Salah, Firmino, Origi
Norwich: Fahrmann - Aarons, Godfrey, Klose, Lewis - Vrancic, Trybull - Buendia, Stiepermann, Hernandez - Pukki
My prediction:
Norwich will most likely be unable to cope with Liverpool's quality, I expect a 3-0 victory for the Reds.
Here are the odds for this match at NetBet:
Liverpool win - 1.14
Draw - 8.75
Norwich win - 18.75
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