Luis Suarez vows Liverpool will 'keep calm and focus on Chelsea' after moving five points clear at top of Premier League table

Victory over Norwich has seen the Reds take another step towards a first league title since 1990

Agency
Sunday 20 April 2014 14:33 BST
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Liverpool striker Luis Suarez scored his 30th goal of the season for the Reds in Easter Sunday's 3-2 win over relegation-threatened Norwich at Carrow Road but said his only focus is on title glory.

Raheem Sterling scored twice and Suarez was also on target as the Merseyside club moved five points clear of second-placed Chelsea at the top of the Barclays Premier League table.

Liverpool romped to a 2-0 lead inside 10 minutes as the Canaries were ripped apart with a superb 25-yard effort from Sterling, before Suarez tucked home from close range.

However, Norwich - just two points above the drop zone - rallied after Gary Hooper reduced the deficit following a poor punch by Simon Mignolet only for Sterling to slot home a deflected third on the break.

Robert Snodgrass set up a tense finale with his header with 13 minutes left, but the Reds secured what looks to be a priceless victory in their bid to win a first championship in more than 20 years.

After the match, Suarez, who became the first Liverpool player to score 30 goals in one season since Ian Rush achieved the feat in 1987, told Sky Sports News: "Of course we are happy because those three points are important for us and we worked really hard today against Norwich.

"Every time they are difficult (to play) and they are fighting not to go down and we know that.

"(The 30 goals) is important for myself but my target is to help the team every time. We are on the top now and we enjoy that."

However, with Jose Mourinho's Chelsea up next at Anfield, the Uruguay international is not popping the champagne corks to celebrate just yet.

He added: "In football you never know what will happen. We will keep calm and focus on the next game against Chelsea."

Norwich manager Neil Adams knows his side face a tough task to stave off relegation with games against Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal making up their remaining fixtures.

However, he was able to find positives in the defeat by Liverpool which he hopes to carry into those games.

Adams said: "I thought we deserved something from the game, particularly with the second-half performance. The first-half performance wasn't good enough. We were playing against a top team and you can't give these types of team an inch or they will punish you.

"They are at the top of the table and that's why they've got top-class players in their side and we didn't get close enough in the tackles. We were a little bit shy with our passing and maybe a bit off the pace. Certainly in the second half I couldn't ask any more of them.

"The application from the players (in the second half) was precisely the response that you want. What you don't want is Liverpool running all over you and dominating the game and from the first whistle in the second half you could see we were about it.

"We had that belief we could go on and do something against a top side and the key message from that is that we've got three key games coming up. The second half performance is what we need in those three (games) and if we can do that we're still very confident we can get enough points to stay in the division."

PA

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