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The away side's win on Merseyside the previous campaign appeared a one-off in an typically dominant English top division home record for the Merseyside club. A second successive win now, a much more emphatic victory under their manager, was indicative of the problems afflicting the struggling former winners.

The visitors' exemplary showing

Forest were exemplary as they secured their largest triumph at the famous ground. Strikes from the defender, superb at each end of the field, Savona and the exceptional Gibbs-White inspired a merited success for a Forest side that also maintained a initial shutout in twenty top-flight games.

Anfield's woes

Liverpool, in comparison, were a disorganized as they endured an eighth loss in 11 matches to fall into the bottom half of the table. Poor at set-plays, once more, impotent in the final third, again, with Alexander Isak substituted after 68 uninfluential moments, and defensively weak, they failed in every area to fall to a consecutive heavy reverse.

Opening pressure without reward

For half an hour the Reds enjoyed the initiative, the occasional counter from Morgan Gibbs-White apart, but the inability to convert chances into the hard currency of finishes cost them dearly. Alexis Mac Allister was given an early opening from the forward's surge into the penalty area only for Anderson to execute a excellent desperate block with his forehead. Mac Allister had a follow-up attempt deflected shortly after while dazzling skill from Salah created another short-distance opportunity for the defender. The visiting defender just did enough to disturb the full-back into firing over.

Set-piece weakness hits repeatedly

The manager has often lamented Liverpool's susceptibility to transitions and set-plays this season. There was fresh cause for complaint when Nottingham Forest took the lead through a combination of the each weakness.

The Forest manager was aghast after the forward was unable to find Nicolás Domínguez in space on the counter and allowed the defender the opening to intervene. The resulting corner triggered ecstatic scenes in the Forest dugout, though, when the midfielder's ball touched Van Dijk to the defender and the central defender fired an unstoppable strike from close range into the far corner. It brought echoes of Van Dijk's chalked-off strike against Manchester City in the Forest's first goal with Dan Ndoye positioned in an illegal position in front of Anfield's fit-again keeper the goalie.

The review system calls and debate

Predictably, the the skipper was quick to point out the parallels to the referee, Madley. In contrast to Robertson at the Etihad Stadium, Ndoye made no apparent movement in front of the keeper and the strike remained. The league stated: "The initial ruling of goal was examined and confirmed by the video system – with it considered that Ndoye was not in the line of vision of the keeper and made no an move that influenced an defender."

The home side were saved by the match officials and the system two minutes following when Jesus thought he had added to Nottingham Forest's cushion.

Konaté, who suffered a terrible day, made an unconvincing effort to clear an Ibrahim Sangaré's ball and deflected the ball against the attacker, who handled before finding the bottom corner of the keeper's posts. Madley, in discussion with his linesman, disallowed the effort for a handling that several reviews struggled to prove or refute. League officials announced: "The referee's call of disallowed strike was checked and confirmed by the video assistant – with it considered that Igor Jesus inadvertently handled the sphere before scoring."

Follow-up score widens advantage

That was the end of the reprieve. Almost immediately of the kick-off the midfielder did not stop a delivery towards Neco Williams inside the home penalty area. Williams spun away from his defender and presented Forest's second on a platter for fellow wing-back the scorer, who picked out the keeper's top corner with a simple accurate strike.

Strategic adjustments prove ineffective

Arne Slot went for broke, replacing the defender with Ekitiké after just before the hour and using the France forward next to Isak. That experiment continued for only a short period before Isak was replaced following one more quiet display. the winger and Ngumoha were also added to the Anfield's frontline but sloppiness in ball control and sturdy opposition backline kept the hosts at bay.

Late strike wraps up the outcome

Forest showed the precision and penetration that Liverpool were lacking in the attacking phase to put the contest {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively