16 Conclusions from Arsenal 3-2 Liverpool

It already looks like the only thing that can (but also definitely will) stop Arsenal winning the title is the sheer absurdity of Manchester City after the Gunners answered more serious questions with a thrilling 3-2 win over Liverpool in a Proper Game of Our League football. But what’s next for Jurgen Klopp’s side, who look a pale imitation of what they once were…

1. Fun, wasn’t it? Without wishing to become an Our League Tubthumper, that was a glorious slice of the very finest Barclays. Arsenal against Liverpool was already the goalsiest (shut up, it’s a word) Premier League fixture before tonight and it’s now 180 goals in their 61 matches. And this one came with a very real sense of wider significance. It was a game that already had narrative right out the wazoo before kick-off, and somehow managed to deliver everything it promised and more within the first 58 seconds of a game that never once let up from there on.

2. Obviously “Martinelli v TAA” was scrawled in big letters across our pre-match notes, just as it was on Jurgen Klopp’s. We were pretty sure we would end up writing about it one way or another. We didn’t expect there to be a 1000-word feature on it within the first minute.

3. This is an Arsenal side that is making a habit of finding eloquent answers for the questions non-believers raise and will continue to raise. Easy fixture list. Haven’t shown strength in adversity. Are Arsenal. Haven’t beaten anyone decent. Is it too much of a shitpost to put forward the argument that actually that last quibble still applies?

4. Yes, it absolutely is. Stop being a prick. Liverpool played well here, and at times very well, but even if they hadn’t this was a victory that would always carry huge symbolic significance in the journey of this Arsenal side. It is a fixture in which they have a miserable recent record. In what might reasonably be termed the Peak Klopp Years – 2017/18 onwards, basically – Arsenal had beaten Liverpool only once in all competitions. And that a hollow Project Restart affair after the title was already Liverpool’s and Arsenal were mired in mid-table.

And those Liverpool wins had often been brutal. They won 2-0 here twice last season, in the league and the Carabao, and 3-0 here the year before that. At Anfield, Liverpool have beaten Arsenal 3-1 (twice), 4-0 (also twice) and 5-1 within the last five years.

To beat them, and to do it having been pegged back not once but twice showed an…