Steve Cooper’s side were back in Premier League action on Saturday, making the trip to Anfield to face Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
Steve Cooper made one change to the side who lost at home to Manchester United last time out, with Orel Mangala coming in to replace Brennan Johnson.
It was a quiet opening 5 minutes on Merseyside with the home team having much of the possession, but they were unable to break through the Forest defensive line. A long-range effort from Coady Gakpo was the only early chance of note, but his shot didn’t trouble goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
There was a touching tribute from the Forest travelling support on 6 minutes with a banner reading, ‘Respect the 97, Solidarity with Survivors, No to Tragedy Chanting’, showing solidarity with Liverpool fans to respect those who tragically lost their lives at Hillsborough, which received a standing ovation at Anfield.
On 10 minutes Konate’s headed effort deflected just wide from a Robertson freekick before Virgil Van Dijk fluffed his lines inside the 6-yard box from the resulting corner
Forest had set up narrow and looked solid defensively in the early parts of the game with chances for both sides being few and far between and not much work to do for either goalkeeper. On 18 minutes Forest did test Alisson Becker through Morgan Gibbs-White when Danilo picked him out on the edge of the box, but his effort was comfortably gathered by the Brazilian international.
Keylor Navas was the next goalkeeper to be test and followed up his heroic saves last weekend with another to deny Virgil Van Dijk from a Trent Alexander Arnold freekick, stretching out to push Van Dijk’s header over the bar.
Steve Cooper was forced into an early change on the half hour mark as Scott McKenna was unable to continue, being replaced by Joe Worrall.
As the match neared the final stages of the first-half, Liverpool carved out a couple of opportunities resulting in corners which were dealt with by the Forest defence, and Mohammed Salah saw his left footed strike curl wide of mark as the home side looked to break the deadlock.
The biggest chance of the opening 45 minutes fell to Diogo Jota on 39 minutes when he found himself unmarked at the back post, but he was unable to direct his header on target.
Forest started carving out opportunities themselves after some nice footwork down the left-hand side from Morgan Gibbs-White resulted in the Forest number 10 picking out Taiwo Awoniyi in the box, but Alisson was able to punch clear.
Half-time: Liverpool 0-0 Nottingham Forest
After the restart the home side quickly took the lead through Diogo Jota, who was able to head the ball passed Navas following a header across the box from Fabinho.
Forest were looking for a quick response though and Gibbs-White stung the palms of Alisson with a clean strike from the edge of the box shortly after falling behind.
Forest did then find a response on 51 minutes through Neco Williams on his return to Anfield. Morgan Gibbs-White found the former Liverpool man in space down the right-hand side with Williams striding into the box and his effort on goal took a deflection which beat Alisson and levelled the scoring.
However, on 55 minutes Diogo Jota restored the lead for the hosts scoring his second of the afternoon when he was picked out by a Robertson freekick, was allowed to turn and found the far corner with a low strike passed Navas.
Jurgen Klopp introduced fresh legs on the hour mark when he brought on Darwin Nunez and Thiago Alcantara to replace Fabinho and Coady Gakpo.
On 67 minutes Forest were back level after a long Moussa Niakhate throw-in fell to Morgan Gibbs-White 16 yards out and his beautifully controlled volley found the bottom corner of the net.
Forest weren’t level for long though after a Trent Alexander-Arnold freekick landed at the feet of Mo Salah 6 yards out and his volley ended up in the back of the net via the inside of the post.
Forest, determined to fight back looked for another leveller and went so close after acrobatics from Awoniyi saw the ball fly just over the top of the crossbar from close range.
With 15 minutes left on the clock, Steve Cooper looked to his bench replacing Remo Freuler with Brennan Johnson. Johnson’s impact was immediate with the strikers first effort looping over Alisson, but his chip hit the crossbar before being cleared away by the Liverpool defence.
Jurgen Klopp brought more fresh legs on as the game approached the 80-minute mark with Luis Diaz and James Milner replacing Diogo Jota and Curtis Jones.
Neco Williams was then the first name of the afternoon to go into referee Michael Oliver’s notebook after bringing down substitute Diaz on the halfway line.
An attacking triple change for Forest followed with less than 5 minutes left on the clock. Sam Surridge, Andre Ayew and Emmanuel Dennis all came on to replace Felipe, Renan Lodi and Taiwo Awoniyi.
Forest with their attacking change were looking for a leveller in added time and created numerous chances with a high press. Mangala headed straight at Alisson and sent a curling effort just wide of the post with his right foot before Brennan Johnson was unable to make a solid contact on the ball at the back post from a Gibbs-White freekick.
However, time ran out and Forest were unable to find the leveller, so it was the home side who took all 3 points on the day.
Full-time: Liverpool 3-2 Nottingham Forest
LINE UPS:
Nottingham Forest: Keylor Navas, Neco Williams, Scott McKenna (Joe Worrall 30’), Moussa Niakhaté, Felipe (Emmanuel Dennis 87’), Renan Lodi (Sam Surridge 87’), Danilo, Remo Freuler (Brennan Johnson 76’), Orel Mangala, Taiwo Awoniyi (André Ayew 87’), Morgan Gibbs-White.
Substitutes: Wayne Hennessey, Jesse Lingard, Harry Toffolo, Oliver Hammond
Goals: Neco Williams (51’), Morgan Gibbs-White (67’)
Liverpool: Alisson Becker, Fabinho (Thiago 60’), Virgil Van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Mohamed Salah, Jordan Henderson, Curtis Jones (James Milner 81’), Cody Gakpo (Darwin Nunez 60’), Diogo Jota (Luis Diaz 81’), Andy Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Substitutes: Caoimhin Kelleher, Joe Gomez, Harvey Elliott, Kostas Tsimikas, Joel Matip
Goals: Diogo Jota (47’, 55’) Mohamed Salah (70’)