Fans by the Diogo Jota tribute section at Anfield before kick off : Picture by @YJourno
**Liverpool (0) 1** Szoboszlai 83
Arsenal's bid to lay down an early marker against the champions came unstuck near the end as a Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick from 25 yards curled over the wall and beyond David Raya.
It was a goal out of keeping with a game locked in a deadly embrace which seemed unlikely to produce a winner and for the most part, the Gunners had looked comfortable - holding the Reds at bay with relative ease even if they did not threaten much themselves.
Even when Martin Zubimendi brought down Curtis Jones to conceded a centrally-positioned free-kick, it did not scream danger of the highest order. But Szoboszlai had other ideas.
The Gunners may have hankered after some sort of statement win - which would have been their first at Anfield in the Premier League since 2012 - but a point here was never going to be a bad thing, if they could claim it. In the end they didn't inject urgency in their attacks until falling behind.
It is too early to draw many hard and fast conclusions, but what we do know is that injuries are already featuring too prominently in Arsenal's season. Only three games into the new league campaign and they were already hit by issues with Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka.
The last thing they needed was another such setback and yet with just five minutes played, William Saliba was forced off - obliging Mikel Arteta into an unwanted change as the less experienced Cristhian Mosquera deputised.
That only added to the mostly conservative approach from the Gunners. There seemed no point in going hell for leather. Avoiding defeat would be reward enough - with another tricky north-west assignment chalked off to boot.
A first half of little goalmouth action was punctuated by Noni Madueke's dash past Milos Kerkez to worry the Kop, David Raya's near-suicidal pass out to Virgil van Dijk and Declan Rice being everywhere.
Matchday programme: Picture by @YTJourno
Liverpool thought they had broken the stalemate when Florian Wirtz turned inside the box to rifle low at Raya but the onrushing Cody Gakpo, chasing the rebound, was flagged offside.
It roused the home support and soon Mo Salah was getting involved, though Riccardo Calafiori marshalled the Egyptian superbly, while Gabriel strode the back line like a colossus. Another fine defensive display looked like being the final narrative but, alas for Arteta, it did not quite end up like that.
**Reds:** (4-2-3-1) Alisson - Szoboszlai, Konate (Gomez 79), van Dijk, Kerkez - Gravenberch, Mac Allister (Jones 61) - Salah, Wirtz (Endo 89), Gakpo - Ekitike (Chiesa 79)
**Gunners:** (4-3-3) Raya - Timber, Saliba (Mosquera 5), Gabriel, Calafiori - Merino (Odegaard 70), Zubimendi, Rice - Madueke (Dowman 89), Gyokeres, Martinelli (Eze 70)