As the pass was wrapped into the feet of Mohamed Salah, David Luiz had attempted to get close. It would prove to be the wrong decision.
Taking the ball with his back to goal some 50 yards from the Arsenal net, Salah anticipated the challenge and simply used his searing acceleration to race into the acres of green turf in front of him.
Luiz, who moments earlier had conceded a penalty for a tired drag on the same Liverpool attacker's strip, was left lead-footed in Salah's wake.
The man affectionately known as the 'Egyptian King' aggressively darted into the space vacated by Luiz's indecision, before sending a laser-guided finish beyond Bernd Leno in the Arsenal goal.
It effectively sealed the points for the home side and left Salah in the hunt for his hat-trick with over a half-hour left to play.
After a 44-goal debut season - one that included a PFA Players' Player of the Year award - was followed up by a return of 27 alongside a Champions League winners' medal, the question might reasonably have been asked where Salah goes next at Anfield.
The jet-heeled Egyptian hasn't had his thirst quenched just yet, it would seem, as he converted his second and third goals of the campaign on another happy day of hunting for the Liverpool frontmen against the Gunners.
The spellbinding 44 of 2017/18 may remain out of reach for Salah between now and May.
But the 27-year-old appears in the mood to chase it down as best he can, judging on the early weeks of the new season.
The £36.9million signing from Roma has propelled himself into the world's elite over the last two years at Anfield, and his sharp performances in the new season's infancy suggests an intent to only build on the lofty reputation he has carved out under Jurgen Klopp.
In a galaxy of stars in this current Liverpool squad, Salah - when at his irrepressible best - shines brightest and the early signs are he is out to prove it all over again.
If his clinically dispatched spot-kick was handed to him by Luiz's cynical and senseless shirt grab, his second was a feat of genuine world class.
His second campaign was spent at Anfield dismissing misguided claims of being a one-season wonder after scaling the peak of the English game in his first.
His third is shaping up to be anything Salah wants it to be and the forecast is more than promising.
