Dean Smith admitted Liverpool deserved their 3-1 win but Norwich City will take great heart for the Premier League battles ahead.

Milot Rashica stunned Anfield with an opener early in the second half. That sparked a stinging response from Jurgen Klopp’s side. Sadio Mane and Mo Salah – with his 150th goal in Liverpool colours – pounced twice in the space of three frenetic minutes before Luis Diaz sealed the comeback.

“Gutsy, really gutsy. But I am realist and I have to be honest we got what we probably deserved in the end. We can take an awful lot of confidence and belief from that performance,” said Smith. “It was a lot better than Manchester City the previous week.

"We asked some serious questions of a really good team and it took a front three of Mane, Salah and Diaz to take the game away from us. We caused problems, a lot more problems, than against Manchester City.

"No disrespect to any opponents coming up but we won’t be coming across this calibre of opposition in the next few weeks. I did say our results in these games determine our fate but we can take a lot of confidence and belief. I wasn’t happy with the first 20 minutes.

“I thought our intensity against the ball could have been better. When we got up to the ball quicker, we created some big chances. We looked more of a threat. We had one goal disallowed, Teemu (Pukki) had a one-on-one with the keeper and put it wide and then we got ourselves in front.

“I felt we deserved that goal but we needed to see out a 10, 15 minute spell when they put us under pressure and the decibel levels at Anfield went up.”