In his latest column, John Aldridge looks at the fallout from Liverpool’s Premier League win over Arsenal and an improvement for both Ibrahima Konate and Milos Kerkez

It may be very early in the season. But Liverpool landed a psychological blow on Arsenal in the Premier League title race with their victory at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.

In terms of clawing back points, the Gunners will know there is no real issue as they can do that by winning the reverse fixture later in the campaign.

But it was the message that it sent out that will bother the Londoners and act as a major boost for Arne Slot’s side as a much-changed team continues to adjust and adapt.

I said last week that I’d love it if Liverpool dogged out a scrappy 1-0 win against Arsenal, and so it proved.

I had no problems at all with what Mikel Arteta tried to do. He had a few players unavailable and getting a point at Anfield is never a bad outcome. Their gameplan was to restrict Liverpool and be happy with a goalless draw, and they nearly got it.

It was always going to take a mistake or piece of magic to win the game, and Dominik Szoboszlai provided the latter with his free-kick.

What a hit that was. Szoboszlai was by far the best player on the park, and it was probably his best game for Liverpool.

He was superb at right-back, with his energy levels helping as they have done when he features in midfield. Look at Newcastle United the previous week where he was able to get upfield deep into injury time to dummy the ball for Rio Ngumoha’s winner.

Liverpool were a lot better defensively against Arsenal, they were tighter as a unit and they dealt with set-pieces much, much better. They were attacking the ball to head it clear rather than waiting for it.

The win keeps Liverpool’s momentum going into the international break, which has been backed up by then breaking the transfer record to sign the Premier League’s best striker.

After a difficult summer, it’s been a good start to the season.

Defensive duo respond

It was a pity Liverpool couldn’t get a deal for Marc Guehi over the line on Monday, although I do expect them to have another go in January.

We will just have to hope Joe Gomez remains fit, because the evidence at the weekend is that he remains an important player.

He was terrific when he came on against Arsenal. Nobody doubts Gomez’s abilities, but the worry has always been about keeping him available.

With Virgil van Dijk purring, Ibrahima Konate much improved on Sunday and the young lad Giovani Leoni waiting in the wings, Arne Slot does have strength in depth at centre-back for now.

I was pleased for Konate. The crowd aren’t stupid and they will have known he has been going through a bad time of late, probably not helped by the speculation over his future having not yet agreed a new deal.

But after a few strong early challenges, the Anfield supporters really got behind him. And you could see that gave him confidence and he grew in stature throughout the game.

Milos Kerkez was another player who had suffered a few poor games but also defended well up against Noni Madueke. It bodes well for the future.