FA Premiership/Liverpool 2  Reading 0: Dirk Kuyt will make a phone call this week to his international team-mate turned club rival, Robin van Persie. The tone of the conversation will be more chatty than sinister but the underlying message will be clear.

"Arsenal will be the big test, that's true," said the Liverpool striker. "But we only have one aim. I'll tell Robin we're going to beat them."

A quartet of home wins after the ignominious defeat at Old Trafford may have choked the discontent, but judgment on the Merseysiders' recovery must be reserved until they have braved the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

Victories at Anfield are routine, even when they labour as they did for long periods against Reading on Saturday, with 19 in 22 unbeaten home Premiership matches. It is away from home where Liverpool have been so abject, and it is on their travels where they must prove their pedigree.

This was the least fluid of their recent triumphant performances, a victory ground out against stubborn opponents who strung five across the back and cluttered midfield. Reading's approach might have succeeded had they not contributed to their own downfall shortly before the quarter-hour mark, Steve Sidwell granting Steven Gerrard too much space to cross and Marcus Hahnemann indecisive and stranded.

Peter Crouch duly beat Sam Sodje in the air to nod back across goal where Kuyt rammed into the gaping net.

That they boast a predatory striker in their ranks, arguably their first since Michael Owen, is a constant source of encouragement to Liverpool.

Kuyt may miss his share of chances but his brace here - his second goal seized after Crouch's header rebounded from Hahnemann's chest - took his tally to five goals in seven Premiership starts.

"People back in Holland wondered whether I would succeed here, but we just have to see if I've proved the doubters wrong," said the Dutchman.

"The Premier League is a higher level, it's quicker, but I'm showing everybody what I can do. We can still show more as a team, not only me. Everything is going better and better.

"We still have a big gap to the top in the Premier League now but, after losing a few away games and only drawing at Sheffield United, we have new confidence now after winning four in a row at home. We just want to see what we can do next week away at Arsenal."

Rafael Benitez, who first tracked Kuyt in his days at Utrecht before the striker had made his name at Feyenoord, is content enough with what he has seen from his £9 million signing to date. "He's a player who knows where to be at the right time," he said. "If you want to score a lot of goals you must have that instinct and know where to be positioned. He's got that."

Reading, at present, do not - this was a fifth consecutive defeat. Yet Steve Coppell, a Liverpudlian back on familiar territory, could be heartened that his team made life distinctly awkward for their hosts, with James Harper denied early by Jamie Carragher's heel and Stephen Hunt later fluffing a presentable opportunity to equalise.

But although his side remained slick in possession, the visitors' defensive outlook was reflective of the reality of competing in arenas such as this.

"If you're fighting against Muhammad Ali in his prime, you don't just go in there and trade blows with him," admitted Coppell, who is still trying to hone an alternative approach to the cavalier one that has served Reading so well in their progress through the leagues.

"I think we've got to develop more of a game-plan against the boss sides. Certainly we can't be the Reading of last season when we just had a go at everyone. These boys can sting you."

Liverpool did just that here, although Arsenal will offer a truer test of the credentials of Benitez's team.