Liverpool came
from behind to begin their Premier League season with victory in a
seven-goal thriller against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
The
hosts took the lead through Theo Walcott, who recovered from missing a
penalty to slot home just 69 seconds later, but Jurgen Klopp's side
stormed back as a Philippe Coutinho brace and strikes from Adam Lallana
and Sadio Mane proved enough to seal the points.
Arsenal rallied
to grab two back through Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Calum Chambers but
ultimately came up short as Liverpool were left celebrating a remarkable
4-3 win.
The game took time to get going but it was Arsenal who
were given a golden opportunity to take the lead when Walcott was felled
inside the box by Alberto Moreno.
The England international dusted himself
down to take the resulting penalty only for Simon Mignolet to guess
right and make the save.
Walcott did not let his head drop,
however, and made up for the miss by putting the Gunners ahead moments
later, picking up Alex Iwobi's pass and this time giving Mignolet no
chance.
With Arsenal upping the pace, Liverpool tried to hit back
straight away but Roberto Firmino's effort was well wide of Petr Cech's
right-hand post as Klopp's side struggled to create chances.
Arsenal's
young centre-back pairing of Chambers and debutant Rob Holding had been
keeping the visitors quiet but a misplaced pass out of defence from the
former saw Firmino and Coutinho combine to set-up Georginio Wijnaldum,
but the Dutchman's shot was weak and Cech saved comfortably.
Liverpool
were level on the stroke of half-time as Holding fouled Coutinho
outside the box and the Brazilian superbly curled home the free-kick.
