Liverpool 3-1 Arsenal: Mad dog van Dijk hasn’t got time for your white socks

Mad dog Virgil van Dijk hasn’t got time for your white socks as he ignored orders during Liverpool’s excellent 3-1 win over Arsenal.

The Reds still conceded a late goal, which probably caused van Dijk some internal bleeding and cause for self-reflection, but at least the Dutchman was feeling confident about his fashion choices.

For some reason, the Liverpool kick staff allowed the Dutchman to go completely rogue and dress himself in all red socks when the rest of the team had one with white in them.

And this is coming from a league where teams will wear their third choice kit FOR NO REASON other than to try and get it in the public eye for sales.

I mean, these things are so co-ordinated that it’s a surprise the merchandise department would let van Dijk – one of the team’s figureheads – go off message like this. And for some reason, I love it.

In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really matter that much, but these little splashes of personality and a little hint at a tiny rebellion are what endear players to fans and how fans connect back to their heroes.

Once again van Dijk had an excellent game – even if he was slightly overshadowed by the surprisingly excellent Joel Matip – as he kept the pacey Arsenal forwards at bay.

Mohamed Salah was another big name who had an excellent afternoon against the Gunners. Salah hit a great double, while his second was one out of the top draw.

Salah collected a Fabinho pass just inside the opposition half, turned, burned David Luiz and Nacho Monreal before firing past Bernd Leno into the goalkeeper’s far corner with his instep.

If you could marry a goal, you’d want to marry that one. And at the other end, van Dijk kept things ticking along in that cool, calm and composed manner that he always does. Just this time the Dutchman looked a little different to everyone else.