Norwich 2 Liverpool 3 - Sterling super show moves our dream one step closer

By dedlfc

With Jordan Henderson's enforced suspension for three games and Sturridges's small muscle strain meaning he missed a game for the first time in three months, we went into the game looking to extend our Premiership lead after the unexpected helping hand of Sunderland (midweek drawing 2-2 away to City and yesterday shock win at Chelsea - with our loan spy Fabio Borini scoring the all important winner 2-1-how inspired has that loan move turned out!)

Sturridge's injury gave Raheem Sterling the chance to form his own bond with the unstoppable Suarez. In the opening stages, it was Sterling shone brightly, scoring a rasping unstoppable right foot shot within the first four minutes.

Sterling after his stunning strike

Then the new SAS bond struck after nine minutes and it was Sterling who put the chancel on a sixpence after a sweeping move for Suárez to finish with typical aplomb. 

Suárez has a history of haunting Norwich and that did not stop today. The 30-goal hit man was spraying passes at will but his usual hat-trick alluded him. 

For the 25th consecutive time this season we had scored in the first half of a Premier League game which is a fantastic record!

At 2-0 up so early in the game the Norwich manager altered his tactics and aborted their diamond formation which we're ripping teams to shreds with and instead went with a more conventional 4-4-2 this enabled Norwich to get a better grip on the game and it was also clear that we took our foot off the pedal.

Our crisp passing and intelligent movement then went astray partly through complacency in having a two goal lead and partly through the nerves of knowing we were really close to achieving our goal of winning the next game in our title run-in and moving on to the next one five points clear.

Throughout Norwich's improved possession they did not look like penetrating our determined defence in the first half apart from long range efforts from Redmond.

We almost killed the game as a contest early in the second half when a tremendous crossfield ball by Suarez found Coutinho driving at the Norwich defence laying the ball back for Sterling to hit a shot just over.

With the chance going astray Norwich capitalised on poor keeping by Mignolet and lifted themselves back into the game with a lofted cross from the right which saw Bradley Johnson challenge Simon Mignolet and the Belgian was singularly unimpressive.  He failed ignaminiously to collect the ball, and Johnson directed his header into the path of Gary Hooper to prod home.

The title run-in pressure had now been turned up - could we again step up our game or be found wanting?

The answer was answered emphatically by young Sterling who through his pace and direct play ran at the Norwich defence and scored our third goal with the aid of a deflection.

Norwich through their determination to survive the dreaded relegation never gave up and forced a fine save from Mignolet from Snodgrass low shot from just over 20 yards. Their constant pressure was admirable and they caused further panic in our defence when Redmond's shot from distance smacked the brave Skrtel in the head and deflected wide for a corner.

Norwich finally broke through with a second goal with Olsson's cross into the centre saw Robert Snodgrass outjump Jon Flanagan to head home into the corner to give the game a nervy finish which would again test our resolve and character.

Yet again, apart from a late header from Van Wolfswinkel saved well by Mignolet, we had full control of the rest of the game and but for the lack of finishing ability by Lucas Leiva we would have had a fourth goal on the counter attack.

Man of the match: Raheem Sterling - Currently the best player in the Premiership on this form.  He showes no nerves and performs consistently well every game at such a young age and what a player he is growing into! His goal was a beauty, but his pass for the Suarez goal was simply class and showed that he has so much more to offer than his raw pace.

In the post match press interview - Rodgers proclaimed Sterling as the best young player in Europe right now and I don't see anyone arguing with him at the moment.

Negatives

• At 2-0 we should have gone for the kill and finished the game off before half time - letting Norwich back into the game was very disappointing but the pleasing thing is we again came through with the win.

• Mignolet had been criticised by our former goalkeeping legend Grobbelaar earlier in the week stating that he was "the weak link in our side, being a good shot stopper, but not the best all round keeper" and at times he looked determined to prove Brucie right. He looks increasingly suspect in the aerial challenges and needs to improve that side of his game to be seen as a worthy successor to Reina who used to collect clean sheets for fun.

Positives

• 11 league wins in a row is a fantastic feat and should be applauded by all our fans.
• Having a striker Luis Suarez hitting 30 league goals without any penalties is an incredible achievement.
• Securing a minimum third place with more games still to go shows what a brilliant season we have produced so far.
• 57 goals scored in the first half this season is outstanding with hopefully more to come.
• 96 goals scored in the league by us with still three games to go.

Lets now move onto Chelsea and continue our amazing run!

Norwich: Ruddy, Whittaker, Martin, Turner, Olsson, Snodgrass, Howson, Johnson, Redmond, Fer (Murphy 77), Hooper (Van Wolfswinkel 77).

Subs: Bunn, Gutierrez, Garrido, Ryan Bennett, Tettey.

Booked: Snodgrass, Turner, Howson.

Goals: Hooper 54, Snodgrass 77.

Liverpool: Mignolet, Johnson, Skrtel, Sakho, Flanagan, Allen (Agger 80), Gerrard, Lucas, Sterling, Suarez, Coutinho (Moses 75).

Subs: Brad Jones, Toure, Alberto, Aspas, Cissokho.

Booked: Skrtel, Flanagan

Goals: Sterling 4, 62, Suarez 11.

Referee: Andre Marriner (England)
Attendance:26,857