Liverpool have made seven changes to their starting XI for the visit of Norwich City, with Mathias Normann making his first start since November for the Canaries.

Normann comes in for Pierre Lees-Melou, who drops to the bench, and Ozan Kabak also provides added defensive cover among the substitutes as winger Christos Tzolis misses out completely.

City have slipped back into the relegation zone after two home games without a win, drawing 1-1 with Crystal Palace and losing 4-0 to dominant leaders Manchester City.

Dean Smith's team face another tough task as they take on the only team likely to be capable of preventing Pep Guardiola's stars from retaining their Premier League crown, with Liverpool nine points behind and with a game in hand.

That match, at home to Leeds, is on Wednesday and the Reds were also in midweek action as they won 2-0 at Inter Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Jurgen Klopp had to make at least one change from that team as star forward Diogo Jota injured his ankle during that game in Italy, who opened the scoring during their 3-0 win at Norwich at the start of the campaign.

He makes seven though, with England right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold absent and Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino out with a thigh problem.

Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Kostas Tsimikas come into defence, Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain into midfield and £37.5million January signing Luis Diaz replaces Jota up front.

Norwich didn't have a competitive game in midweek, so played a behind-closed-doors friendly at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday with former Liverpool loanee Kabak getting 90 minutes after missing two games due to illness.

Smith said at his pre-match press conference that some first-team players will be involved with the under-23s at Aston Villa on Monday to continue fringe players getting minutes.

Fit-again midfielder Normann also played 60 minutes in that friendly and after three appearances as a substitute recently is ready for a start.

The Canaries remain without five players though, with Lukas Rupp (hamstring) due to return to training next week but Andrew Omobamidele having to see a specialist as he struggles to return from a back injury.

Tim Krul (shoulder) and Jacob Sorensen (knee) remain out and appear unlikely to return to contention this month, with Adam Idah (knee) ruled out for the season after surgery.

The hosts are looking for an eighth win on the spin in all competitions, having not lost at Anfield for almost a year.

- You can watch live reaction as the teams emerged in the video above

LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson; Gomez, Matip, van Dijk, Tsimikas; Henderson (C), Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Mane, Diaz, Salah Subs: Kelleher (GK), Fabinho, Konate, Thiago, Milner, Minamino, Robertson, Origi, Elliott

NORWICH (4-3-3): Gunn; Aarons, Hanley (C), Gibson, Williams; Gilmour, Normann, McLean; Sargent, Pukki, Rashica. Subs: McGovern (GK), Byram, Zimmermann, Kabak, Giannoulis, Lees-Melou, Placheta, Dowell, Rowe

REFEREE: Mike Dean

VAR: John Brooks

- You can follow all of the action from Anfield in our NCFC Live blog