Even at this early stage of a campaign, some victories just feel significant. And on a day when Manchester City had already lost further ground with defeat at Brighton, Dominik Szoboszlai's moment of genius against Arsenal was enough remind anyone who might have forgotten that it is Liverpool who remain very much the team to beat.

A lot has been spoken about the Premier League champions' start to the season, much of it in negative tones, and while plenty has been fair and even-handed, the discourse has, at times, been out of sync with a team who had actually won their first two fixtures against an intense Bournemouth and a scorned Newcastle United, under the white-hot glare of the St James' Park floodlights, no less.

There have been areas to assess, things to tweak and parts to improve, of course, but as has been so readily pointed out by Arne Slot, the Premier League is now arguably as strong as it has ever been and few games can be navigated successfully at half speed.

This one, of course, was always going to be fixture that required the highest levels of concentration and application and while we are still in August, this 1-0 victory, courtesy of the Szoboszlai stunner, leaves Slot now riding high into the international break as the only unbeaten manager. There's a reason this lot are champions, despite the early-season critiques.

Compare this term to last season's games with Bournemouth, Newcastle and Arsenal and the Reds have actually amassed four more points than the corresponding fixtures. Not bad for a team still adapting and adjusting to a summer of high turnover.

The first half was, like Monday evening on Tyneside, characterised by a cantankerous crowd and action on the pitch that often resembling wrestling matches. It came and went with few real talking points

Slot had admitted his side had been undone too often by set pieces in recent weeks and with the Gunners widely known as the leaders of exposing the opposition from dead balls, the eight corners might have been cause for concern from the dugout, but the hosts defended them well with Milos Kerkez in particular enjoying his best outing in a Reds' shirt. The Hungarian was superb throughout.

With two of the more robust and relatively unadventurous full-backs around in Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber aided by a midfield trio of Mikel Merino, Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi, Liverpool found it tough getting into their stride offensively, with Arteta happy to sacrifice the supply line to Viktor Gyokores in favour of it keeping it tight.

Clearly Arteta, who once likened an Anfield blitz to being 'caught in the washing machine' was weary of a similar fate here.

The Reds started to get the upper hand in the second half but Mohamed Salah was guilty of three heavy touches when trying to steady himself to shoot, twice from Florian Wirtz, who grew into proceedings before pulling up with what Slot claimed was cramp.

In truth, it was a game of razor-thin margins and for all the huffing and puffing from the champions, Arteta would have felt his game-plan had been carried out expertly as the match entered its final 10 minutes. But when such little ambition is shown in open play, you leave yourself at the mercy of the variables.

How fitting then, that a coach who has so often extracted maximum points from perfectly-executed set-pieces in dour spectacles to this time fall foul of that same pattern. The strike that sealed the points for the Reds here was the game's only real moment of beauty. It felt like one team came not to lose and the other to win, and that, ultimately, was the difference here.

One suspects this outrageous match-winner will be played on loop for some time during an international break that fans won't want to see just yet. It's an early goal of the season contender, that much is certain.

And a word for the overall performance of Szoboszlai, who has become Slot's Hungarian Army Knife. Having become an integral part of the frontline press with his indefatigable running, he had initially been asked to drop into a deeper midfield role to accommodate Wirtz's arrival before stepping in with aplomb at right-back for the last two games.

It was also Szoboszlai's sublime dummy that allowed Rio Ngumoha to score the winning goal at Newcastle after 100 minutes and it's testament to his unrivaled fitness levels that he is still able to still think with such clarity and have the quality to execute his game-changing acts when virtually everyone around him are likely exhausted late on.

Szoboszlai did similar against Bournemouth, when he controlled Alisson Becker long punt with a glorious turn with two minutes remaining, to help Salah set up the chaos that led to Federico Chiesa's decisive goal. It is no accident he is able to be so decisive this late in games.

The arrival of Wirtz, for a club-record £116m, might have left Szoboszlai looking like the odd man out in that midfield department, but he is as important to Slot and Liverpool as a whole as he has ever been right now. He has become the new undroppable, wherever he is asked to play.

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So now to Monday, and another pivotal day in the early-season jousting; this time off the pitch as sporting director Richard Hughes aims to finish off a productive and busy transfer window with quite the flourish.

A deal for Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi remains in the pipeline and we await the mother of all deadline day deals to gather momentum as the summer-long saga of Alexander Isak finally reaches the end game, one way or another.

It promises to be a fascinating day but supporters can at least watch the drama unfold safe in the knowledge that it is their team who once more find themselves on top. They will take some shifting on this evidence.(ECHO)

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