Jurgen Klopp's side got the better of their hosts at the Emirates Stadium in a highly entertaining encounter which crammed all the emotions of a full campaign into 95 minutes

Crazy? Yes. Entertaining? Absolutely. If there were any arguments about Arsenal’s hosting of Liverpool being the pick of the Premier League’s opening weekend fixtures, they were sharply silenced on Sunday evening.

In his matchday programme notes, Arsene Wenger described meetings between the teams as “unpredictable". Seven goals from a combined 12 shots on target, a missed penalty and his counterpart's glasses getting broken again would most certainly be filed under that description.

A cocktail of amateur defending, loose passing and dizzying attacking football saw Jurgen Klopp’s men edge the Gunners 4-3 at the Emirates Stadium.

It crammed all the emotions of a full campaign into 95 mental minutes, which had both managers often bewildered in the dugout.

Liverpool were a shadow of themselves in the first 45 minutes, chasing their own stray balls rather than putting Arsenal on the back foot.

They were indecisive, passive and the antithesis of everything they would have planned on being. When Simon Mignolet thwarted Theo Walcott from the penalty spot after Alberto Moreno's challenge, it should have been a wake-up call for the Reds.


But 69 seconds later they were behind, with the same attacker being afforded too much space after Adam Lallana lost possession and the Spanish left-back caught out of position as he pushed up to join the break.

Liverpool continued to look lost and second best before they were bailed out by their two-time Player of the Season. With half-time approaching, Philippe Coutinho whipped out his magic wand again and curled a phenomenal free-kick into Petr Cech's top-right corner. "It was the best one yet," he said afterwards of his dead-ball effort, which takes its place in an ever-growing archive of wonder goals from the Brazilian.

He wasn’t done. Klopp sent his side out in the second half with a reminder of how fit they were and how they could unsettle the hosts. Coutinho cleverly flicked the ball on for Gini Wijnaldum, who was making his competitive debut for the club, and he sent a lofted pass in Lallana’s direction. The England international took it superbly on his chest and applied a neat finish.

Liverpool continued to push and probe, getting a minimum of four players into the box at a time.

They found themselves 4-1 to the good before Arsenal could blink, with Coutinho firing in another after good work from Nathaniel Clyne and Sadio Mane getting off the mark for the club in pretty fine fashion.

The Senegal international was relentless, winning four tackles and completing as many take-ons in a stellar performance. He proved to be the game-changer along with the Reds' inspired No.10.


On the attack, Liverpool could surgically dismantle any side but their weaknesses remain in defence. Klopp's answer as to whether he will be strengthening in the market after the final whistle was "we'll see" but a reduction of the brainlessness decision-making remains paramount.

The Reds allowed the Gunners back into the game, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Calum Chambers making it 4-3, and ensured a nervy finish.

It wasn’t perfect from Liverpool, not even close, but it was important that they managed to play themselves back into a game that looked lost after the first half-hour at a venue notoriously difficult to win at.

Their only previous victory in the last 20 away trips to Arsenal across all competitions was registered in August 2011, making Sunday’s three-point haul a massive one.
Improvement will be non-negotiable, though, with Klopp knowing his side can’t "switch off the machine" in future games and expect to always clinch thrilling triumphs.

As per the manager’s own assessment: "When you are good enough to score four goals, you need to avoid conceding three."

But one of Liverpool’s most testing fixtures is out of the way, on the first weekend of the season, with a win in the result column.

And it was achieved without Daniel Sturridge or James Milner, while Loris Karius, Mamadou Sakho, Joe Gomez and Lucas are also still sidelined.

Liverpool must make sure it only gets better from here.