Consider this a statement from Liverpool.
On a weekend where Manchester City scored eight, the Reds recorded what could, in the grand scheme of things, be just as significant a victory.
Their 2-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge restores their five-point cushion at the top of the Premier League. That’s seven successive away league wins for Jurgen Klopp’s side – a new club record. They’ve won their last 15, home and away, and are on their best unbeaten run, 23 games, since 1990.
We know what happened that year, of course, and the desire to end that torturous wait for a league championship burns as fiercely as it ever has. Results like this, though, only reinforce the idea that perhaps, just perhaps, this really will be Liverpool’s year.
Chelsea, traditionally, is a place where they struggle. Only at Old Trafford have they lost more Premier League games down the years, and Klopp had been surprised to learn at his press conference on Friday that his team had won only one of their last 12 away games against their top-six rivals.
But if the question was could they handle Frank Lampard’s young, vibrant outfit, then they answered in the affirmative - just.
We are used to his team tearing opponents apart through speed and stealth, cutting them open with incisive, thrilling combination play.
Here, they reached into their bag and pulled out a different weapon entirely. They got their set-pieces out.
“Scoring more goals is something I’d like to improve,” Trent Alexander-Arnold had said, in an interview published on Sunday morning. Maybe the full-back had had a premonition, because it took him just 14 minutes here to make good on his word.
It looked a well-rehearsed routine. After Sadio Mane was fouled, just outside the Chelsea penalty area, Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Jordan Henderson stood together over the ball. They talked, they plotted.
Then, they executed.
As Henderson primed himself for the strike, Salah rolled his foot over the ball and sent it behind him for Alexander-Arnold, who unleashed a rocket into Kepa Arrizabalaga’s top left-hand corner. It was the youngster’s first goal since last November, a direct free-kick at Watford. He doesn’t do tap-ins.
Liverpool’s second goal was equally well thought-out, Alexander-Arnold rolling the ball to Andy Robertson and the Scot crossing for the unmarked Roberto Firmino to head home from close range, as Chelsea’s zonal marking system malfunctioned badly.
The trend continues. Since the start of last season, Liverpool have scored 34 goals from set-piece situations, which is at least seven more than any other team. They really have developed into the complete football team. They look like they have all the tools.
They wobbled a bit here, mind. They were knocked out of their stride by Chelsea’s second-half energy and vibrance, and indebted to a late miss from Mason Mount which would have salvaged a point for the home team. They defended desperately at times, impressively at others. Beaten in Naples in midweek, there were signs of fatigue as this game wore on.
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In terms of fluency and quality, they can play a lot better. In terms of results, though, they can’t.
That’s six wins from six now, 18 points when nobody else has managed more than 13. It’s only September, but with every victory they are laying down a marker. They’ve now lost just two of their last 52 league matches; remarkable consistency. To win the Premier League against City requires near perfection, and Liverpool are there at the moment.
No wonder Klopp was smiling at the final whistle. He knew, as everyone knew, what a big win this was.
The Red machine rolls on.