Liverpool prove why they remain EPL benchmark

This is Liverpool. This is why they are champions. This is why they are deservedly favourites to achieve back-to-back titles. It’s in their hearts, their minds, their utter desire to win.

Liverpool striker Diogo Jota, third from left) celebrates his team's third goal against Arsenal at Anfield

It was the fury inside Andrew Robertson as he worked overtime to atone for a rare mistake. It was Sadio Mane being too quick, strong and determined for Hector Bellerin and Dani Ceballos. It was Joe Gomez throwing himself into a blocking challenge to stop Eddie Nketiah with the game won.

This is Liverpool. This is why they are champions. This is why they are deservedly favourites to achieve back-to-back titles. It’s in their hearts, their minds, their utter desire to win.

It is why they have now scored 400 English Premier League goals under Jurgen Klopp in his 185 games in charge. It is why they are now unbeaten at Anfield in the past 61 league games (50 wins, 11 draws), moving closer to the club record of 63, set by that accomplished team of Bob Paisley’s between 1978-81.

Liverpool defender Andrew Robertson crosses the ball past Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin

It is belief, organisation, individual skill, collective endeavour and that ruthlessness.

Liverpool took Alexandre Lacazette’s 25th-minute goal as an affront to their self-esteem, a challenge to their status as champions. They took it personally. How dare Arsenal? Their anger was rooted in the fact that the ball should have been stopped before it reached Lacazette. So there was consternation in home hearts when Granit Xhaka began the move, Lacazette redirecting the ball left to Ainsley Maitland-Niles, whose cross was not the best and should have been a routine one to control or clear for Robertson.

He misjudged it, miscuing, the ball dropping kindly for Lacazette, who hooked it not particularly convincingly past Alisson. It was at the Kop end, and even if that famous bank was deserted, Liverpool’s players took it even more as an insult.

They responded as the best sporting sides do, not wallowing in self-pity or introspection, not complaining about perceived injustice, but hitting back, a swarm of men driven to make amends, to restore order to the scoreline, Robertson joining Mane in charging down the left, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah relentless down the right. It is one of the great sights, Klopp’s side on the hunt, especially with Mane in such feisty form as this, leading Bellerin a merry dance.

Arsenal are developing promisingly under Mikel Arteta, who has given them more shape and mettle, but they were not in Liverpool’s league for all-round threat, belief and ability. The manager still has more work to do on the defence, some more creativity to instil in midfield and some more finishing practice for Lacazette despite his early goal. Arsenal need to become a machine like Liverpool and that takes time and the right parts.

It took Liverpool only 147 seconds to recover from the slight, to heal the wound, and it came from one of those trademark switches and surges that have made Klopp’s side almost impossible to keep at bay.

How can you when they flood forward like this, flowing like mercury finding holes, pouring into gaps, an unstoppable red tide. Virgil van Dijk began the move, transferring play from the left to Alexander-Arnold, whose remarkable stamina and speed makes him such a high-class shuttle service down the right.

Liverpool, like this, are a panoply of options, always a player available. Naby Keita, growing in influence by the game, took the move on, forcing his way through. Keita was so driven that it took David Luiz and Xhaka to drag him down, but Craig Pawson, the referee, played an excellent advantage.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp at Anfield after the victory

One of the myriad reasons why Liverpool can be a class apart is their speed of reaction, seizing the loose ball, grabbing the initiative. Roberto Firmino was now in possession and playing the killer pass to Salah, inviting his attacking accomplice to test Kieran Tierney’s balance, sure-footedness and pace.

Salah ran at the Scot, brushing him aside, before shooting. Bernd Leno saved but Mane, that savvy snapper-up of uncontested trifles, pounced from close range.

Arsenal’s marking was wretched. Arteta had started his defence in a back four, at times a back five as Maitland-Niles dropped back to try to help Tierney somehow deal with Salah. Again Liverpool targeted that flank, easing smoothly into the lead within

six minutes.

Van Dijk launched another attack, switching play, again forcing Arsenal to shuffle across, almost to the point of losing their balance. Firmino controlled the ball instantly, brought Salah into the movement, Alexander-Arnold took over and whipped one of his devastating deliveries into the area. Liverpool just race through the gears so quickly, their understanding of each player’s movement and strengths so ingrained and so evident.

Arsenal’s defence was all over the place, Bellerin moving inside to join Rob Holding in attempting to clear. The ball skimmed off Bellerin’s head and fell on to the unmarked Robertson. He controlled the ball with his midriff and calmly lifted it over Leno. Bellerin looked to the heavens. He could also have looked at himself. He needed to be tighter to Robertson, although the Scot was in one of his rampaging moods.

Arteta acted positively, removing Xhaka for the more creative Dani Ceballos on the hour.

Within three minutes Ceballos released Lacazette but he never exuded much confidence when faced up by Alisson, who stretched out one of those huge paws and pushed the ball away. It was a big miss, the type a centre forward of Lacazette’s ability should put away.

Arteta twisted again, sending on Nicolas Pepe for a very subdued Willian. Arsenal exhibited an occasional threat on the counter but their defence was never allowed to settle, not with Mane around. He was a persistent pest, harrying Arteta’s defenders, refusing to give up the possibility of regaining possession, being too sharp for Bellerin and Ceballos. How a full Kop would have loved that.

Klopp made his first moves, inserting James Milner for Keita in midfield and introducing Diogo Jota on the left for Mane. The 23-year-old Jota, making his first Premier League appearance for Liverpool since his pounds 41 million move from Wolverhampton Wanderers, immediately looked lively, always demanding the ball, moving threateningly in from the left, alarming Holding.

He scored with three minutes remaining. Salah was out on the right, stretching Arsenal, and suddenly playing the ball back to Alexander-Arnold. Down came that hammer of a right foot, whipping the ball in. Luiz headed out but Jota was waiting on the edge of the area, having lost Holding. He took the ball on his thigh and his arm, and then swept it past Leno. VAR looked and, surprisingly, did not respond to

the handball.

Even when Arsenal broke through late on, Gomez put in a magnificent block to deny Nketiah, embodying that total commitment that sets champions like Liverpool apart.

THE TIMES