Liverpool open Premier League season with resounding win over Norwich

Liverpool scored all their goals in the first half of Friday's comprehensive 4-1 defeat of Norwich City.

Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, and Divock Origi netted for the hosts after Grant Hanley embarrassingly turned the ball into his own net for the first goal of the Premier League season.

The Canaries weren't simply making up the numbers, with Marco Stiepermann guilty of squandering inviting chances in the first period. The away supporters were finally rewarded in the 64th minute when Teemu Pukki - last season's top scorer in the Championship - bagged a consolation goal following a forensic pass from Emiliano Buendia.

Liverpool are unbeaten at Anfield in the Premier League since April 2017, and a fast start to their first game of the top-flight campaign will have pleased Jurgen Klopp after a tough opening stanza in the Community Shield last weekend.

Instead of spending big on new recruits, the German tactician elected to keep his Champions League-winning contingent together. Origi played ahead of Sadio Mane in attack - the Senegalese played in the Africa Cup of Nations final on July 19 - but it was an otherwise familiar and intimidating lineup for Liverpool.

Daniel Farke was similarly loyal in his selection choices, electing to not start any of his summer signings and stick with heroes from last term's title triumph in England's second tier. It was no surprise that two of Norwich's prominent protagonists from that Championship season - Buendia and Pukki - combined for the visitors' goal.

Liverpool and Norwich return to league action on Aug. 17, with the former traveling to Southampton and the latter hosting Newcastle United.