You Bet | Liverpool have it all to prove as Arsenal seek to end goal drought

Manchester City's 2-2 draw at Liverpool got the English Premier League's big-match season off to a cracking start and Anfield is the venue again for the second chapter tomorrow  when Arsenal are the visitors.

A few seasons ago this match would have been seen as a title pointer, but nowadays it is more of an indicator about the teams' ability to finish in the top four.

Liverpool have more to prove in that respect, despite the encouraging performance of their young bucks against City. The opening-day defeat at West Brom might turn out to be a poor form guide, as so much went wrong for Liverpool, but equally it is difficult to know whether Brendan Rodgers' work-in-progress can match the level of their performance against City on a consistent basis.

What we do know is Anfield remains a difficult place to visit. Liverpool lost only five out of 35 at home in all competitions under Kenny Dalglish and that record looked much better until they were defeated by Wigan, West Brom and Fulham in a poor run-in to last season that may have sealed Dalglish's fate.

Rodgers built Swansea's success around a solid home record, with just seven defeats out of 43 over the past two seasons in the Premier League and Championship, but what he must do now is to find a winning formula as both his Swansea side and Dalglish's Liverpool were held back by high draw rates.

Liverpool's two goals against City were an encouraging sign, particularly in light of Arsenal's failure to score in their two games so far. That has highlighted the question marks over whether new strikers Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski can fill the hole left by 30-goal striker Robin van Persie, although it is still too early to reach a definitive conclusion.