Szoboszlai’s wonder strike breaks table-top stalemate

Dominik Szoboszlai went for it, unlike Arsenal for most of the game, so Liverpool won it.

- MIGUEL DELANEY AT ANFIELD

Liverpool Szoboszlai (83) 1

Arsenal 0

That might sound a little simplistic, but it did end up the difference in this unusually early match between a prospective top two. As to whether it will make a difference by the end of the season, that's a more complicated discussion.

For now, the champions are back on top on their own, the only team left in the Premier League with a 100 per cent record - and that after only three games. Mikel Arteta has, meanwhile, lost his unbeaten record against the old “big six” which had stretched back to a 4-1 defeat by Manchester City in April 2023.

That also means that he still doesn't have an away win against either Liverpool or City. In other words, the teams you have to better to be champions.

Worse, after a game of tactical constraint, Arsenal lost to a set piece. That wasn't how it was supposed to go for Arteta. It instead again went Arne Slot's way, something he has an aptitude for. Even the taking of the free kick felt a reward for Szoboszlai's tireless work at right-back, one of those Slot interventions. The introduction of Curtis Jones was just as significant. Liverpool raised their game after that. But what a repayment from Szoboszlai.

"Unbelievable game from him," Slot said. Unbelievable strike.

You won't see many better goals this season, let alone free kicks. David Raya just puffed out his cheeks afterwards, as if to acknowledge that he had no chance as the ball flew past him and in off the post. It was perfect, if from a less-than-perfect match.

One reading is that this was essentially a 0-0 game that was decided by “a moment of magic”, as both managers put it.

Slot himself even added that this sort of game “normally ends in a draw”.