Daniel Farke feels even more confident about Norwich City’s Premier League prospects than he did before a Saturday evening 3-0 Carrow Road defeat to Liverpool.

The Reds were ruthless against a home side who had a heavily disrupted pre-season build up due to Covid concerns in the camp.

Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah underlined their class but City were competitive for long spells.

“Yes, a deserved win for Liverpool because they were more effective in front of goal but many, many positive things to take,” said Farke. “We had 14 shots against a world class side, equal in possession. It sounds a bit ridiculous but after this game I feel more confident for the season than I did before.

“They have a world class coach, world class players and if I think about their key players they had a proper pre-season. We have had a really tricky three weeks. We had players either on the pitch or coming on who didn’t have a proper pre-season. I can only say I have compliments for that performance.

“For 65 minutes our energy and power were there. The only difference was the goal we conceded, which was a bit unlucky. We were complaining for a foul on Teemu Pukki, then we dropped a bit too deep, too early. I don’t think Salah meant that assist either.

"Of course when they scored the second it is a difficult game to turn. But I was quite pleased with the last 15 minutes. We have tired players and they have lads now in the mood, so you fear it could be a long night. But we were closer to score in the end. I still struggle to explain how we didn’t score. We had many good situations and we deserved one.”

Andrew Omobamidele and Jordan Hugill were not part of the matchday squad. Farke confirmed afterwards youngster Omabamidele was still feeling the effects of his recent tonsillitis. Hugill was left out with Farke able to include new attacking options Josh Sargent, Milot Rashica and Christos Tzolis.

Hugill was also one of the contingent who had to self-isolate in the closing stages of pre-season.

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