16 Conclusions of Arsenal 3-2 Liverpool – Martinelli > TAA, the title bows, the misfortunes of Salah, Klopp out?

It already looks like the only thing that can (but certainly will) prevent Arsenal from winning the title is pure Manchester City nonsense after the Gunners answered more serious questions with a thrilling 3- 2 over Liverpool in a good game of our league football. But what's next for Jurgen Klopp's side, which look like a pale imitation of what they once were...

1. Fun, isn't it? Without wanting to become an Our League Tubthumper, it was a glorious slice of Barclays best. Arsenal v Liverpool was already the Premier League game with the most goals (shut up, it's a word) before tonight and it's now 180 goals in 61 games. And this one came with a very real sense of a larger meaning. It was a game that already had a narrative just before kickoff, and somehow managed to deliver everything it promised and more in the first 58 seconds of a game that never stopped from there.

2. Obviously, 'Martinelli v TAA' was scribbled in big letters on our pre-match notes, 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 in the first minute.

3. This is an Arsenal team that is used to finding eloquent answers to the questions that non-believers ask and will continue to ask. Easy assembly list. Did not show strength in adversity. Are Arsenal. I haven't beaten anyone decent. Is it too shitty to make the argument that that last quibble still applies?

4. Yes, that is absolutely the case. Stop being an asshole. Liverpool have played well here, and at times very well, but even if they hadn't, it was a win that would still have huge symbolic meaning in the journey of this Arsenal team. This is a match in which they have a miserable recent record. In what could reasonably be called the Peak Klopp years - from 2017/18, essentially - Arsenal had only beaten Liverpool once in all competitions. And that a hollow affair of Project Restart after the title was already Liverpool's and Arsenal were mired in mid-table.

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

Beating them, and doing so after being pushed back not once but twice, showed an Arsenal side that possesses plenty of the old Wengerian ideal of 'character' to go with quality. Increasingly, the only compelling arguments about Arsenal as title contenders relate to the absurdity of Manchester City rather than anything to do with Arteta's Gunners. They're already apart of the rest in a top two group with City - a position Liverpool themselves know all too well - and that in itself is an absurd effort for a club that haven't finished. in the top four since 2016. /p>

5. However, Liverpool are in a bit of a pickle. Yes, it was better but it's damning in its own way because a lot of it - and not just Trent Alexander-Arnold - was still really, really no good and they're starting to look like a team and manager coming in at the end of their cycle. The excellent last 25 minutes of the first half looked like a team playing from muscle memory. A spasm that showed glimpses of what they once were and still lingers somewhere in there trying to get out. Their title offer is, of course, already made. But even the top four look a long way off at the moment and things are likely to get worse before they get better with Manchester City.

It's particularly onerous because when you're at Liverpool and you're as good as you've been for as long as you've been, you can't really make a 'tricky dating list, though " to apologize for being in the middle of the table after a quarter of a season. But to play Arsenal and City in back-to-back games around Champions League commitments is asking a lot of anyone, and especially a great team in decline and suddenly unsure of themselves.

For all that the Premier League this season has had an uneven and topsy-turvy start with Chelsea and Manchester United accepting the mantle of Crisis Club at various points, the facts are: five of the Big Six now occupy the top five places in the league. The other, five points behind fifth place, is 10th-placed Liverpool.

There is a concept in cricket called "Root Maths". It refers to the manipulation of statistics to fit a particular argument. Specifically, it involves disregarding innings that don't fit the general narrative of an out-of-form hitter. "Take away that cent he scored there," the Root Mathser will begin, "and he's only got 20 on average." Clearly, that's not really the case. You can not...