Having started the Premier League season with genuine title aspirations barely two months ago, Liverpool have been forced to drastically scale back their ambitions before the Halloween costumes have even been picked out.
And perhaps what will irritate most is the identity of the team going a scarcely believable 14 points clear on Sunday evening. Liverpool are used to looking up at sizable deficits to Manchester City at the top of the English game. In recent years it's been the thing that has inspired and propelled them towards some of their most supremely consistent runs of form.
But as the Reds stare up once more towards the top end of the table, they will see a Gunners side who have improved immeasurably since they failed to score in any of their four meetings last season. Oh yeah, and Pep Guardiola's men are still there too, just one point behind.
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The progress made by Mikel Arteta in north London has run parallel to the significant downturn in fortunes experienced by Klopp and his staff since this increasingly miserable and perplexing campaign got underway with a draw at Fulham on August 6.
Top four now is the summit of the hopes for a lacklustre Liverpool who look so bereft of any of the qualities they have made almost exclusively their own over the last five years. And perhaps therein lies the problem: going full pelt for half a decade; constantly chasing and scrapping and harrying for the top spot with a limitless City looks like it has inevitably caught up with this squad.
Throw in what is a lack of investment from a net spend perspective too, particularly this summer, and it looks like Liverpool have, sadly, run out of steam.
In isolation, the two defeats this term - away at Manchester United and here at Arsenal - are not immediate indicators of a team whose peak period is behind them, but jot those losses down around draws with Brighton, Fulham and Crystal Palace as well as the almost obligatory annual point at Everton and it paints a picture of an exhausted, embattled club whose stomach for the fight is no longer there.
Klopp insisted his fortunes at Anfield as his seven-year anniversary approached bore no resemblance to the struggles he endured after the same time period at both Mainz and Borussia Dortmund in Germany, and while each situation will have its own specific reasons for why the form dipped and the results suffered, there can be little denying that these are the most difficult weeks of the Klopp era on Merseyside.
A woeful couple of months between late December of 2020 and mid-March 2021 was some of the most frustrating during an otherwise golden period at Liverpool under Klopp, but that was hugely caveated by the fact of it being an entire season played behind closed in the midst of a crippling injury crisis at centre-half and beyond.
This particular bad patch now is wholly more concerning for Klopp given there are so many problems that are unable to be instantly rectified. A new contract that was signed less than six months ago says this manager is ready to take on the challenge for the foreseeable but how many others within this squad can say the same right now?
This, patently, was not how it was supposed to go when Champions League and FA Cup finals beckoned for the Reds after Klopp had put pen to paper on fresh terms in late April.
The Reds boss named an unchanged lineup from the 2-0 win over Rangers as the exciting, new-look 442 was given another chance to impress at the Emirates.
Arsenal had the lead inside the first minute however when Bukayo Saka was able to feed Martin Odegaard in acres of space. The Norwegian then slid in Gabriel Martinelli who dispatched. It was the 10th time in 12 league games the Reds had conceded the first goal. Of all the issues engulfing Liverpool right now, this is the one that hurts them the most.
Darwin Nunez picked an opportune time for his first goal since the opening weekend when he converted from Luis Diaz's cross on 34 minutes but after weathering a disastrous start relatively well, a counter-attack at the death of the half gave the Gunners the advantage at the break through Saka.
It was a goal that was entirely preventable had a 'tactical' foul been committed at any point of an attack that developed on the edge of Arsenal's area in the fifth and final minute of added time. For five of the last six seasons the Reds have finished top of the Fair Play table and they were runners-up last term too. It's that lack of a cynical streak that does undercut this team.
Klopp sent on Joe Gomez for a worryingly poor Trent Alexander-Arnold before the restart but it was another substitute whose impact was most telling. After being introduced for an injured Diaz before the break, Roberto Firmino clinically struck home Liverpool's second leveller of the day after a wonderfully-threaded pass from Diogo Jota. It was the No.9's 10th goal against the Gunners, marking him out as the most prolific in Anfield history in the process.
With Arteta's side dominating, Klopp sent on Fabinho and Ibrahima Konate in effort to solidify the central areas but the head-scratcher was seeing Mohamed Salah named as one of the players to make way alongside Joel Matip. The Egypt star endured a difficult afternoon but his substitution was still an odd call.
The hosts were then given a controversial penalty when Gabriel Jesus went down after an attempt at a clearance from Thiago Alcantara. The Spain midfielder looked stunned with Michael Oliver's decision but it nonetheless stood and Saka eventually netted for his second of the game with less than 15 minutes to play.
Harvey Elliott was sent on to rescue proceedings but it was an unfair demand on a teenager who is still finding his way as a senior member of this squad. There would be no reprieve.
"We are top of the league!" sang the home fans in the closing stages. Liverpool's followers have been able to bellow out similar sentiments in recent years but it's one that won't be aired at Anfield this season.
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