Dominik Szoboszlai magic steals the show as Liverpool send Arsenal message - 5 talking points

Dominik Szoboszlai's stunning free-kick saw Liverpool send an early title statement as they squeezed past Arsenal at Anfield on Sunday. The two sides battled throughout the afternoon, with the Hungarian's effort winning the game late on.

After a relatively quiet first hour on Merseyside, Hugo Ekitike thought he had given Liverpool the lead as he picked up on a parried shot from Florian Wirtz's effort. But Cody Gakpo was clearly offside earlier in the move and the strike was chalked off.

But there was no threat of Szboszlai's cracker being ruled out, as he extended Liverpool's unbeaten start to the season. It was also the first goal that Arsenal have conceded this season.

It leaves Liverpool top of the Premier League table heading into the first international break of the campaign. Here are all of the talking points from Anfield:

There were some worrying scenes for Arsenal early on as William Saliba went down with an injury following an innoucuous clash with Hugo Ekitike. And he was immediately withdrawn in place of summer signing Cristhian Mosquera.

Saliba has been a huge presence for Arsenal over recent seasons so any absence will be sorely felt. Arteta then will be keeping his fingers firmly crossed that the Frenchman isn't out for an extended period of time.

Who was your man-of-the-match between Arsenal and Liverpool? Share your thoughts in the comments below

For the first hour of the game, you'd have been forgiven that this was another United States-based friendly, with a real lack of attacking action between the two teams. In fact, during the first hour, there was just one shot on target.

Liverpool's performance was so unconvincing that it triggered an angry rant from Manchester United icon Roy Keane at half-time. Meanwhile, Gary Neville also slammed both sides for their lack of ambition in attacking their opponents.

The first real chance of the game came from a sloppy pass out from the back from Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya . He uncharacteristically gave the ball away to Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk.

Advancing on goal, all the defender needed to do was shoot but for some reason opted to pass and Arsenal eventually managed to scramble clear. Raya then gave the ball away again in the second period, breathing another sigh of releif as Liverpool failed to be as clinical as usual.

After his £67.5m move from Crystal Palace earlier this month, Eberechi Eze was named on the bench at Anfield. But with Arsenal needing some inspiration heading into the closing stages, Mikel Arteta opted to hand the England man his debut.

And he immediately gave Arsenal a spark, with a few bright touches down the left flank. He also had a late appeal for a penalty having danced into the Liverpool area, but an award was not forthcoming.

Well it was far from a classic - but one thing that certainly was classic was Szoboszlai's match-winning free-kick. The Reds were awarded their free kick as Wirtz was downed by former Liverpool target Martin Zubimendi on the counter-attack.

The ball was stationed around 35 yards out and not many expected Szoboszlai to arrow it into the top corner - maybe even Raya among those with that view.

But that's exactly what the Hungarian did as his effort thundered into the net. It capped a brilliant all-round performance from Szboszlai, who is now worth his weight in gold to Liverpool.

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