Liverpool landed an early-season statement at Anfield with a 1-0 victory over Arsenal, secured by Dominik Szoboszlai’s stunning 83rd-minute free kick.

Boss Arne Slot said the win was about far more than the strike itself, pointing to the resilience of a side still finding its rhythm with several new arrivals.

“I’m most pleased with the team’s mentality,” Slot said. “We’ve had to bring quite a lot of new players in. And then you have to start the season against Bournemouth and then Newcastle away, and then to play Arsenal at home, which is definitely one of the three or four most difficult games of the season… and already doing what we are doing.”

The result keeps Liverpool perfect going into the international break, with three wins from three including tough fixtures away at Newcastle and now against a heavily strengthened Arsenal.

Slot admitted Liverpool are “not perfect” but praised their willingness to fight to the end.

“Everybody wants to work so hard to get a result over the line,” he said, invoking a sporting great to underline the team’s drive. “I’ve said this so many times – I think it was Michael Jordan that said ‘the harder we work, the more luck we get,’ and that is something that you can say about this team.”

Szoboszlai, deployed in an unfamiliar right-back role, earned special mention.

“He understands what a Liverpool player should look like,” Slot said. “If you wear this shirt, you should give everything, no matter in what position you play. Unbelievable game from him in a position he has probably played only two or three times in his life.”

The game itself was more grit than spectacle, with chances scarce and both sides largely cancelling each other out. Slot acknowledged as much: “If we play this game 10 times more in the same fashion, then I think it’s eight times a draw. We win it one time, and Arsenal win it one time, because it was an uneventful game… and then you need a moment of magic, which we got from Dominik, and that resulted in us winning the game.”