Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp admits his joy was short-lived as he feared an Arsenal comeback in their Premier League opener on Sunday.
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Liverpool are the first team to score four goals at the Emirates Stadium since Chelsea in 2009 and Philippe Coutinho orchestrated most it, while scoring two goals.
“We’ve got huge belief”, Lallana said. I was really happy about having half-time because we could speak about everything. At the back you feel that we lack a little bit of maturity but you know that before you go into the game.
“It’s hard but it’s the Premier League, and nothing should be easy in this league so we need to be ready”. But we’ll see first what we can do with the players who are preparing at the moment and how many players are injured today.
Shkodran Mustafi is expected to sign for the Gunners in the coming days as a reaction to the injuries suffered by Per Mertesacker and Gabriel, but the 24-year-old’s arrival might not be enough.
While the makeshift defence conceded four goals, the decision to play Euro 2016 semi-finalist Aaron Ramsey also backfired, as the Wales midfielder was substituted early with a hamstring injury.
Arsenal should have been in front just before the half hour when Alberto Moreno gave away a penalty after bringing down Walcott in the area, but the former Southampton winger saw his poor spot kick easily beaten away by Simon Mignolet. “Or you give them a rest and you start the season without many of your players”.
“The game was intense for all of us”.
Brazilian playmaker Coutinho scored a stunning 25-yard free-kick and a neat volley either side of half-time before hobbling off in the second half, but Klopp said he had just been suffering from cramp.
Sadio Mane scored a wonderful solo goal, while Georginio Wijnaldum provided an assist for Adam Lallana’s goal, but Klopp revealed he is still not sure whether his side need further additions.
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Klopp continued: “We were much better in the last 15 mins [of first half], then the wonderful goal of Phil”. Once they got to 2-1 up, the game changed because they could wait to counter-attack and this is where they damaged us.
