Liverpool eased past Norwich City to reach the FA Cup’s fifth round.

Curtis Jones engineered the breakthrough by meeting fellow academy graduate James McConnell’s cross to the far post in the 15th minute.

The visitors struck back just seven minutes later through Ben Gibson’s looping header at a corner in front of The Kop that had Alisson well beaten.

Darwin Nunez restored the lead for Jurgen Klopp’s side shortly before the half-hour mark with a rolled finish after he was teed up by Conor Bradley.

Diogo Jota added a third early into the second half after seizing on a weak headed clearance from Gibson to score with a superb volleyed effort.

Virgil van Dijk piled the misery on for the Canaries as he combined with fellow substitute Dominik Szoboszlai to power home a corner in the 63rd minute.

But the Championship outfit notched an impressive reducer from Borja Sainz, whose rasping 25-yard strike found the top right-hand corner of Alisson’s net.

Any potential fightback hopes were emphatically ended in added time when Ryan Gravenberch diverted Conor Bradley’s drilled effort to round off the rout.

The Reds will now face home tie against the winners of the fourth-round replay between Watford and Southampton on Wednesday, February 28.

Here were the key talking points from Anfield:

Klopp’s long goodbye begins

Ordinarily, a FA Cup fourth-round tie against Norwich City on a blustery January afternoon would never likely rank as the hottest ticket in town.

But news of Jurgen Klopp’s planned departure earlier this week ensured that Anfield will be the must-visit destination between now and the end of May.

Nine years’ worth of emotion will be packed into each of Liverpool’s remaining fixtures in this campaign after the official start of the German’s farewell tour.

The mutual understanding between Kopites and their outgoing manager that his name would not be sung in-game was temporarily shelved on Sunday.

Full-throated chants of ‘Jurgen is a Red’ rang out across the stadium in the opening and final minutes as the realisation of what lies ahead hit home.

Fleeting though it proved, the Anfield faithful were determined to reaffirm their outpouring of support for Klopp now he has taken the decision to leave.

Expect more of the same until the Liverpool manager’s tenure finally ends.

Trio’s return is perfectly timed

Klopp claimed his bombshell decision was driven by an inability to manage ‘on three wheels’ – but his side have coped pretty well on that front of late.

Injuries laid low Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dominik Szoboszlai and Andy Robertson in recent weeks; yet there was little semblance of a drop-off.

Since losing the trio as well as Mohamed Salah and Wataru Endo to international commitments, the Reds went unbeaten in their next five games.

That said, the sight of Alexander-Arnold, Robertson and Szoboszlai making second-half cameos was perfectly timed ahead of a gruelling set of fixtures.

Little about the trio’s first tastes of first-team action for several weeks – or months, in Robertson’s case – was expected to be particularly spell-binding.

Yet Szoboszlai provided an assist for Virgil van Dijk while the full-backs both appeared reassuringly solid in their long-awaited comeback appearances.

If Liverpool hope to give Klopp a perfect send-off by finishing the season still fighting on all fronts, a wealth of squad options will be pivotal to that aim.

Reds’ front line still raring to go

Salah’s involvement and subsequent injury at the Africa Cup of Nations had threatened to lessen the impact of Liverpool’s attacking trident options.

On the current evidence, however, the Egyptian’s loss may not be as keenly felt as first feared due to the exploits of his available cohorts against Norwich.

Granted, facing a team pushing for promotion from The Championship is not the strongest barometer but there were still clear signs of their qualities.

Darwin Nunez continues to prove a handful and should have really doubled his tally either side of a well-taken finish after Conor Bradley’s surging run.

Diogo Jota, similarly, is approaching something close to peak form with a goal in his own right and a tireless work ethic that doubles as a front-line catalyst.

The only question mark is over which player occupies the third starting place with Cody Gakpo visibly rusty and Luis Diaz more effective from the bench.

It was a rare blip for the Dutchman, who spurned a hatful of chances in this game, but Liverpool’s overall attacking quality is still there and raring to go.