For 15 minutes at Anfield against Norwich City, it looked like Saturday might be the day that Liverpool were forced to concede defeat in the Premier League title-race.
Falling behind to a deflected Milot Rashica strike, fortunate the Reds fought back following the introduction of Thiago Alcantara and Divock Origi on the hour-mark, with goals in quick-succession from Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah turning the game on its head before Luis Diaz scored his first Liverpool goal late on to wrap up a valuable three points.
Just a couple of hours later and the turnaround was given even greater importance as league-leaders Man City fell to a dramatic, late 3-2 defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspur.
With the gap at the top now down to six points, the Reds can reduce the deficit further in midweek when they take on Leeds United at home in their game in hand.
And as Liverpool fans celebrated on a day that blew the Premier League title-race wide open, there was plenty that went unnoticed or under the radar during the 90 minutes at Anfield.
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Virgil van Dijk and Alisson gang up on Keita
While Liverpool might have ran out 3-1 winners on Saturday, it wasn’t plain sailing for the Reds as Norwich City made life difficult for them.
And tempers boiled over at one point in the first half where Alisson had little choice but to rush a pass to Virgil van Dijk out wide after being closed down, who ended up just chesting the ball out of play under-pressure for a Canaries throw.
Rather than point the finger at each other for the mistake, the duo both turned and took their frustrations out on Naby Keita for not giving the Brazilian an alternative option.
The Guinean got the message and was eager to make amends, making sure to get on the end of the subsequent Norwich throw to ahead clear and avoid any potential further wrath from his team-mates.
A split in the camp
Fortunately Van Dijk and Alisson were in a much better mood after the latter had set up Mohamed Salah to give Liverpool the lead, with the Egyptian finishing coolly for his 25th goal of the season, and 150th Reds goal in total, after being picked out by the Brazilian.
The strike evoked memories of Salah’s famous effort against Manchester United in front of the Kop during Liverpool’s 2019/20 Premier League title-winning season, with Alisson sprinting the length of the pitch to celebrate with the Egyptian King after picking him out with a long kick forward.
There was to be no repeat from the Brazilian this time, however, as he Van Dijk, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, Thiago Alcantara and Kostas Tsimikas all rushed to pile on the shot-stopper and celebrate his assist in his own area, while Salah celebrated with his remaining team-mates at the other end of the pitch.
Van Dijk did belatedly make his own way upfield to celebrate with the goalscorer following initial celebrations with Alisson, slowly jogging forward for a post-goal cuddle with Salah before the game could finally get back underway.
Away from the goal celebrations, a shout out to the Liverpool FC official programme team at Reach Sport, who had opted for Alisson as the cover star for this week’s clash with Norwich.
With their chosen image a shot of the Brazilian booting the ball upfield, it would prove to be an eerie foresight of what was to unfold at Anfield.
Welcome Ka-bak
If Ozan Kabak had had his way, he would have joined Liverpool permanently in the summer following his half-season loan from Schalke.
Instead, he found himself sent on a second Premier League loan, with newly-promoted Norwich City his next destination.
Yet to taste victory in the top-flight with the Canaries, the Turkey international currently finds himself out of the Norwich team following injury and the arrival of Dean Smith as manager.
However, after returning to training in midweek, he was fit to take his place in the matchday squad for his Anfield return.
And despite Norwich falling to defeat, the 21-year-old was all-smiles at the final whistle as he caught up with his former manager and team-mates.
Sharing a big hug and quick chat with Jurgen Klopp, he then worked his way around his former colleagues to congratulate them on the win.
With Norwich returning to Anfield in the FA Cup next month, hopefully Kabak will be granted the opportunity of a warm reception from Liverpool fans after answering the Reds’ emergency call for a centre-back last year.
Ouch
While Liverpool had to work hard to beat Norwich and didn’t get on the scoresheet until after the hour-mark, perhaps proceedings would have been a bit more straightforward had Van Dijk not seen an effort chalked off for offside.
The Dutchman was alert to control the ball and roll it into the bottom corner after an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain strike was blocked and fell kindly into his path.
It wasn’t the centre-back who had strayed offside however, but the Reds captain Jordan Henderson who immediately fell to the floor after taking the full force of Oxlade-Chamberlain’s initial effort in his midriff.
While the 31-year-old might have been denied an assist he knew little about in the first half, it was a different story after the break when his wonderful through-ball was finished off by Luis Diaz.
A happy ending for Henderson, who was one of Liverpool’s star performers in the second half, and one that was a lot less painful for him!
