Steven Gerrard heaped praise on Luis Suarez as Liverpool's number seven led the Reds to Carrow Road success – and just like last season, doing it with a hat-trick.

'Luis has had two fantastic days at Norwich, he's a magician when he's on it and he certainly was today,' said the Liverpool captain. 'He scored three, but could have easily have had five or six goals himself out there and should have had a penalty – that's how good his performance was.

'It was a comfortable win for us. We scored five good goals but the pleasing thing was we continued to play well.

'Sometimes when things are not going for you, you can start to feel sorry for yourself but we didn't do that and kept doing the right things and got the reward.'

The win was Liverpool's first in the league this season – Brendan Rodgers' side having narrowly lost out to Manchester United and Manchester City, and been beaten by Arsenal.

'I said last week when we lost to United it was a strange feeling because we played really well and should have beaten them, so it was nice to play well again and win this weekend,' added Gerrard.

'We are passing the ball well and doing what the manager wants us to do which is pass the ball at a high tempo and it's enjoyable.'

Rodgers gave Academy graduates Suso and Andre Wisdom their first start in the top-flight as Raheem Sterling continues to shine.

'A lot of people talk about the Academies and players coming through but you still need to have a manager who has the bottle and puts his neck on the line by giving them a chance, and the manager has done that from day one,' said Gerrard.

'We as senior players will help guide them and show them the right way.'