Luis Suarez reached 30 Premier League goals for the season as Liverpool edged past Norwich City in a five-goal game to win their 11th straight match and surge five points clear at the top of the table.
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The Reds were ahead inside four minutes when Raheem Sterling made space for a shot and rocketed home a 25-yard effort with the aid of a faint deflection off Norwich's Michael Turner.
John Ruddy then palmed away Joe Allen's instinctive effort from a narrow angle, before Luis Suarez doubled the visitors lead after 10 minutes.
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The Uruguayan opened his body to tuck home league goal number 30 for the season from Sterling's well-weighted low cross.
Gary Hooper and Nathan Redmond went close for the home side in the first half before Coutinho almost made it three just before the break with a curling shot that flashed a yard wide.
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Eight minutes after the break Norwich did pull one back when Steven Whittaker hoisted a high cross into the area that Simon Mignolet, challenged by Robert Snodgrass, could only punch straight to Hooper to sidefoot home.
Suarez then curled a shot just inches wide before Liverpool re-established their two-goal advantage.
Again it was Sterling who found the net and this time the deflection on his shot was a big one that looped over Ruddy and just under the crossbar.
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Liverpool might have been expected to kill the game off, but Norwich surged back into it in the final 30 minutes.
They pulled it back to 3-2 when Snodgrass rose well to head Martin Olsson's cross into the corner of the net.
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Five minutes later it should have been all square, but substitute Ricky van Wolfswinkel could only head straight at Mignolet from close range.
It looked like Norwich might nick an equaliser in the dying moments, but it was actually Liverpool who came closest to the sixth goal when Suarez cut back for Lucas Leiva, with the Brazilian unable to beat Ruddy from eight yards.
Defeat leaves Norwich just outside the bottom three with their three remaining games against Manchester United (A), Chelsea (A) and Arsenal (H).
Pascal Lemesre
