English Premier League
Result: Liverpool 3-1 Arsenal
Date: 24 August 2019
Venue: Anfield
Mohamed Salah was star of the show as Liverpool maintained their winning start with a 3-1 victory over Arsenal at Anfield on Saturday evening.
Gunners club record signing Pepe was handed his first start as Alexander Lacazette dropped to the bench, while there was no place in the squad for Mesut Ozil.
After a relatively quiet opening, the Reds were nearly gifted a goal on 20 minutes when Dani Ceballos' poor clearance landed at the feet of Sadio Mane, who saw his effort palmed away by Bernd Leno.
Pepe nearly marked his full debut with a goal in the 35th minute after latching onto Jordan Henderson's error, but the Ivorian was unable to find a way past Adrian.
The deadlock was eventually broken five minutes before the halftime break, with Joel Matip nodding home a cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Arsenal did not get off to the best starts in the second half as the Reds were awarded a penalty, which Salah duly converted to double the lead.
The flood gates opened from thereon as Salah grabbed his second and Liverpool's third goal in the 58th minute with a fine individual effort after skinning David Luiz before finishing neatly.
With the Reds comfortably leading, Jurgen Klopp added a bit more fresh legs to the midfielder with the introduction of James Milner in place of Georginio Wijnaldum on 68 minutes.
The Gunners managed to pull a goal back with six minutes remaining in the half as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's pass found Lucas Toreira, who placed the ball into the bottom corner.
The goal proved to be nothing more than a consolation as Liverpool held on for the win and remain the only side left in the league with a winning record.
