- Game finished 0-0 after first 45 minutes
- Danny Ings broke the deadlock three minutes after coming on
- Russell Martin leveled things up after an hour with a stunning flick
The Reds looked a quality side at Anfield, but that didn’t produce the desired result as Russell Martin rescued a point for Norwich at Anfield, canceling out a goal from Danny Ings right after halftime.
Liverpool looked meaningful off the opening whistle with Daniel Sturridge back in the lineup, but James Milner had a shocking start to the match with a yellow card and a dive in the box inside the first four minutes. The latter came from a stellar flick from Sturridge, indicating he may be back to full fitness.
Milner’s day got worse as he had a wide open shot on 16 minutes in the middle of the penalty area but blasted it straight at a defender with the goal gaping.
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Liverpool continued to pummel the Norwich box, and Sturridge had his best chance yet on the half-hour mark as a horrible giveaway by the Canaries in their own half allowed Lucas to slot through the England international alone on goal, but with a defender closing down fast, his hurried shot was acrobatically saved by John Ruddy.
Norwich continued to make mistakes at the back, and it nearly played in the head of Christian Benteke on 40 minutes had Ruddy not come out to punch away just in time.
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Brendan Rodgers was forced to remove Benteke at halftime due to an injury, and on came Danny Ings in his place, who would immediately make an impact. Yet again a Norwich giveaway allowed Moreno to play in Ings who struck home around poor marking from Sebastian Bassong for his first Liverpool goal.
3 - Russell Martin now has three PL goals this season; the top scoring defender in 2015-16 (ahead of Kompany & Ward - two each). Leveller.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 20, 2015
Despite Liverpool’s ascendacy, Norwich wasn’t phased. A corner came in past the hour mark and Simon Mignolet went for the punch. He didn’t get all of the ball, and it fell right at the feet of Russell Martin who pulled a striker’s trick out of his bag and spectacularly poked the ball with the outside of his foot, looping his shot over the crowd in front of net and in for the equalizer.
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With the game level, Rodgers brought Daniel Sturridge off for Adam Lallana, and the game exploded open. Nathan Redmond found Matt Jarvis in the box on the break but Mignolet crumpled to a heap and stopped the shot. Coutinho had an open look with 12 minutes from the right edge of the six-yard box but he couldn’t finish around Ruddy. Ings had another chance after Lallana sliced up the Norwich defense on the ball, but he couldn’t get a shot off before the end line.
The point puts Liverpool on eight points for the young season, moving them level with West Brom in 12th. Norwich moves there as well, on eight points with a slightly better goal differential.