We won’t crack roars Van Dijk

Liverpool also have options all over the pitch. No one is quite as good as Firmino, Salah and Mane, of course, but they have back-up fullbacks, centre-halves, the midfield is rotated each week, and a worldclass keeper in Alisson.

It is hard to work out which of Firmino’s first two was more embarrassing for Arsenal and their Sunday League-standard defending. The first, where

Stephan Lichtsteiner smashed it against Shkodran Mustafi to give Firmino an open goal, or the second where they all fell at the Liverpool No9’s feet as he slalomed his way through.

It feels like it can be Liverpool’s year and rather than run away from the pressure or shy away from talking about Thursday’s trip to Manchester City, they are ready for the challenge.

There is a fearless spirit running through the group, epitomised by Andy Robertson – one of the many unsung heroes. He has only been in the team just over a year but his name is sung as loudly as anyone by the Kop because of his neversay-die attitude.

Arsenal switched systems to push Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Alex Iwobi wide to stop the runs of Robertson and Trent AlexanderArnold, but it did not work. And they were Arsenal’s two best players in a shambolic display.

Xherdan Shaqiri, who was excellent yet again, believes that Liverpool can get even better. “You can improve all the time,” he said. “It’s true we are not really perfect at the moment. We can always improve.”

LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1):

Alisson 7; Alexander-Arnold 7, Lovren 7, Van Dijk 7, Robertson 8 (Clyne 83); Wijnaldum 7 (Lallana 78), Fabinho 7; Shaqiri 7, Firmino 9, Mane 7 (Henderson 62, 6); Salah 8. Robertson. Firmino 14, 16, 65 pen, Mane 32, Salah 45 pen.

Man City (a) Thurs, PL.

Leno 5; Lichtsteiner 5, Sokratis 5, Mustafi 4 (Koscielny 46, 5), Kolasinac 4 (Guendouzi 80); Xhaka 4, Torreira 4; Maitland-Niles 7, Ramsey 6, Iwobi 7; Aubameyang 5 (Lacazette 71, 5). Xhaka, Sokratis. Maitland-Niles 11. Fulham (h), tom PL.

M Oliver (Northumberland).

ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Goals: Referee: Goals: Booked: Booked: NEXT UP: NEXT UP: