“Absolute, wow!” was how Jürgen Klopp described his side’s performance against Arsenal on Monday evening. The Liverpool manager was speaking following what was an impressive 3-1 victory against an opponent with whom he and his side are becoming familiar.

This is the third time the two have met in less than three months. They will also face each other again on Thursday night in the EFL Cup.

Liverpool lost to Arsenal in the Premier League in July during their title-celebrating run-in at the end of the 2019/20 season, and again in the Community Shield curtain raiser for the new campaign on penalties.

Neither game saw the full-throttle version of Liverpool, but it could also be said that neither game witnessed the most in-tune version of Arsenal. Gunners’ manager, Mikel Arteta, took over last December and is only now beginning to shape his side into one with a particular character and one with a particular style.

But this latest game certainly saw some of the best football this Liverpool side have to offer. They showed glimpses of the qualities that won them the league last season and the Champions League the season before that.

Sadio Mané was direct, quick, and clever, while Mohamed Salah continues to prove he’s as good a playmaker as he is a tricky dribbler. Throughout the rest of the team there was good tactical teamwork and pressing amid some flashes of individual brilliance.

It was Arsenal who opened the scoring, though. Alexandre Lacazette was presented with an opportunity when Andy Robertson’s failed clearance landed at his feet.

The French forward turned well but scuffed his shot into the ground with little power. Luckily for him, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson had tried to second guess the striker and had already gone to ground. The shot bounced agonisingly over the Brazilian’s head and his paw at the ball was in vain.

Liverpool had dominated the opening exchanges but found themselves a goal down. The domination continued, though, and eventually manifested itself in an equaliser from Mané via the brilliance of Salah. The Egyptian breezed past Kieran Tierney into the area, firing a shot at Bernd Leno who could only palm to Mané who finished the easy chance.

Then came the go-ahead goal from Robertson who was much more assured in the opposition area than he had been in his own, poking home a cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Arsenal invited Liverpool’s press in the hope that, if they were able to play around it, there would be space to launch attacks. It sounds good in theory, but playing around one of the best pressing teams in world football is the most difficult of tasks.

A chance did come for the visitors, again falling again to Lacazette, but with more time to think than was the case with his first attempt, he lost the battle of wits with Alisson who remained the largest of obstacles and was able to make the save.

“These games can go either way, that’s how it is,” said Klopp said after the game. “If they score goals then it looks slightly different, but the game would have been the same.

“It’s about how you play and how you create, and with it being really early in the season, and with this performance, it’s absolute, wow!”

Though he only came on with ten minutes of the game remaining, replacing the ever-impressive Mané, Liverpool’s new signing Diogo Jota was one of the most prominent players in the latter stages.

The Portuguese, who cost the club $58 million from Wolverhampton Wanderers, had a great chance to open his account for his new club not long after coming on. He was played in on goal by a defence-splitting pass from Salah but hit the side netting from an angle.

He made no mistake with his second chance, guiding a shot into the bottom corner as he controlled a poor David Luiz clearance on the edge of the area.

It’s an altogether different environment for players at the moment, but it must be extra-disappointing for new signings to not make their debuts in front of fans and a lively atmosphere, especially when that debut is a goal-scoring one.

Klopp said in his programme notes that the fans are still with his team in spirit, and the German was typically spirited in his post-match interview, enthusiastic and still immersed in the game he had just watched.

“We were dominant against a team in form… the football we played was absolutely exceptional tonight,” he enthused.

“We had so many big moments. In the first half we played a super game but we were 1-0 down—how could that happen? Imagine in this game we wouldn’t have won, it would have been incredible, but we won it.

“Could we have scored more goals? Yes. Could they have scored? Yes. Because of the quality that they have.

“We played a constant high line—how can you defend Aubameyang with a high line constantly? But without a high line you cannot defend Arsenal.

“They played build-up over 95 minutes and were really brave. We punished them from time to time—we didn’t score in these situations, but we killed their match plan a little bit in these moments, which is important in football.”

And they’ll get to do it all again on Thursday, likely with different players in the lineup, but, Klopp hopes, a similar performance, a similar result.