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out-gunned

Robertson involved at either end as Liverpool come from behind to beat Arsenal

Diogo Jota volleyed in a debut goal late on for the Reds.

LIVERPOOL CONTINUED THEIR 100% start to the new season by ending Arsenal’s, coming from behind at Anfield to beat the Gunners 3-1.

Jurgen Klopp’s side dominated the early stages, but were caught on the break when Andy Robertson contrived to scoop an attempted clearance behind him and into the path of Alexandre Lacazette. The Frenchman needed only to scuff his finish to give his side a 26th-minute lead.

The champions went close to scoring three times before Arsenal took the lead, and they remained behind for less than two minutes as Mo Salah powered past Kieran Tierney and thumped a shot at Bernd Leno. Sadio Mane tapped in the rebound.

10 minutes before half-time, the Reds took the lead. Robertson made up for his error for the game’s opening goal by bursting onto a deflected Trent Alexander-Arnold cross and flicking the ball over the advancing Leno with his second touch.

Though both sides created openings in a high-tempo encounter with both teams willing to play an open style, the score remained 2-1 until the 88th minute when Diogo Jota languidly controlled and volleyed a weak Arsenal clearance to the bottom left corner.

Arsenal followed the game plan that had brought them two victories over Liverpool in recent months as they dropped deep then looked to play around the Reds’ press when in possession.

However, unlike when they met at the back end of last season’s Premier League when Jurgen Klopp’s men had already won the league or the Community Shield in August, Liverpool were far sharper in pulling the Gunners out of position.

Mane was first to threaten with a clean strike from Alexander-Arnold’s cross that was too close to Leno before Alexander-Arnold’s deflected effort came back off the crossbar.

The only time Arsenal did manage to pierce the Liverpool press before half-time, they opened the scoring completely against the run of play though Lacazette’s finish.

Liverpool responded immediately to level within three minutes as Salah outmuscled Tierney and when his shot was parried across goal by Leno, Mane turned into an empty net.

Robertson them made amends for his previous error as Liverpool’s flying full-backs combined as Alexander-Arnold’s cross was this time converted by the Scotland captain.

However, where Arsenal sides of recent years might have collapsed, as they did in losing 4-0 and 5-1 at Anfield in 2018 and 2019, Mikel Arteta has instilled a new-found belief in the FA Cup winners.

The visitors were more expansive after the break and created a huge chance to level when Dani Ceballos put Lacazette through on goal, but Alisson stood up well to block the French striker’s shot.

Klopp introduced Jota for his league debut 10 minutes from time and the Portuguese international should have sealed the win when he fired into the side-netting from Salah’s excellent through ball.

The Egyptian was less generous moments later when he stole the ball of Jota’s toes and failed to beat Leno.

But Jota did not have to wait long for his first Liverpool goal as a sweetly-struck volley found the bottom corner to show why the Reds spent £41 million to sign him from Wolves.

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