Liverpool moved up to second in the Premier League courtesy of a four-goal rout over Arsenal.

Roberto Firmino broke the deadlock early on as he headed home Joe Gomez’s cross before Sadio Mane doubled the advantage just before half time.

Any fears of the game being beyond the Reds’ grasp were quelled shortly before the hour mark courtesy of a Mohamed Salah counter-attack goal.

Substitute Daniel Sturridge added further to the rout as he rose at the far post to meet Salah’s delivery to compound the Gunners’ misery.

Here were the key talking points from Anfield:

This team will only improve

 

Jurgen Klopp had opened himself to ridicule earlier this week in suggesting that several of Liverpool’s current first-team players are akin to new signings.

While that rhetoric will not convince many on the Kop at the lack of incomings before the transfer window closes, his words still carry a degree of truth.

That this Reds side comfortably obliterated Arsenal with attacking guile and pure power should serve as a warning shot to the rest of the Premier League.

This team will only continue get better over the weeks and months ahead with the additions of several key players returning from the treatment table.

Unless fates conspire otherwise before August 31, Philippe Coutinho will be among those added to Klopp’s line-up, as will fellow casualty Adam Lallana.

A genuine quality in depth of this magnitude has not been seen in Anfield for the best part of two decades – and Liverpool’s best may yet be to come.

Reds and Gunners are poles apart

 

Neither Liverpool nor Arsenal will consider this summer one to remember.

With continued uncertainty over the futures of their respective talismans, the clubs at polar opposites of the country have faced difficult choices.

Do they wallow in their own misery or rise above the noise? Sometime in the second half at Anfield, the answer had already became self-evident for many.

Mohamed Salah’s comfortable dispossession of Hector Bellerin and 70-yard run before extending Liverpool’s advantage told the tale of two teams.

After an false start, Liverpool are finally bearing the hallmark of prospective title challengers while their London counterparts appeared almost past-caring.

Arsene Wenger’s players, meanwhile, were bereft of both belief and heart. Clearly the north-south divide is greater than many first thought.

Gomez is finally back in business

 

Joe Gomez’s Liverpool career might have finally come of age after all.

Much of the calendar year has been building towards an eventual first-team comeback following his impressive start to life at Anfield in 2015.

Three appearances into the new campaign and the 20-year-old is now picking up where he had left off before the cruel fate of injury intervened.

Granted, Arsenal’s forward line has been going through the motions all summer but it would still pose a challenge to a defender of any experience.

Little, however, fazed Gomez. He stifled both Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil in swift succession with brilliantly executed challenges in the space of a minute.

It was also his cross which paved the way for Roberto Firmino to break the deadlock after little more than a quarter of an hour on the clock here.

Klopp’s faith in Gomez appears to be finally paying dividends and poses the question about what might have been before a cruel fate of injury intervened.

Karius’ return poses familiar questions

 

Scorelines as emphatic as Liverpool’s demolition of the Gunners would ordinarily suggest that their goalkeeper had a leisurely afternoon.

That did not even tell half the story of Loris Karius’ surprise comeback.

Klopp’s decision to axe Simon Mignolet for the perennially error-strewn German stopper was as bizarre as it was supposedly logical.

Little of Karius’ first outing since January suggested that Klopp’s choice was vindicated.

His hesitation on the ball allowed Danny Welbeck to place an undue level of pressure on the Liverpool goalkeeper with only a one-goal advantage.

Anfield expressed genuine levels of angst each time Karius was in danger of being caught in possession; something rarely levelled at Mignolet’s feet.

He was fortunate that Arsenal did not put up much of a fight but the 24-year-old will not be spared that same scrutiny against more formidable opponents.

Klopp’s assertion that Mignolet would be restored to his rightful place for the upcoming trip to Manchester City will have been music to supporters’ ears.