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Forest's victory at Anfield last season seemed an anomaly in an otherwise commanding Premier League home record for Liverpool. Their repeat now, a much more emphatic victory under their manager, was indicative of the challenges afflicting the faltering champions.

Forest's superb display

The team was impressive as they recorded their most significant triumph at Liverpool's home. Strikes from Murillo, superb at both ends of the pitch, the full-back and the exceptional the playmaker led to a well-earned win for a team that also maintained a maid clean sheet in twenty top-flight games.

The home side's difficulties

The hosts, by contrast, were a chaotic as they experienced an 8th defeat in eleven matches to fall into the second tier of the table. Weak at dead-ball situations, once more, unproductive in the final third, consistently, with Alexander Isak withdrawn after 68 uninfluential minutes, and vulnerable at the back, they struggled in every area to succumb to a consecutive heavy reverse.

Initial dominance without reward

For the opening half-hour the Reds maintained the initiative, the sporadic attack from Morgan Gibbs-White apart, but the inability to capitalize on opportunities into the actual outcome of finishes cost them dearly. Mac Allister was presented with an initial opportunity from Gakpo's surge into the penalty area only for the Forest player to deliver a brilliant line save with his skull. The Liverpool midfielder had a another effort blocked shortly after while impressive control from Salah created another near-post opportunity for Milos Kerkez. A Forest defender just managed to pressure the full-back into sending high.

Set-play weakness hits again

The manager has often bemoaned Liverpool's weakness to fast breaks and set-plays in the current campaign. This provided new reason for complaint when Forest scored first through a blend of the each weakness.

Sean Dyche was aghast after the forward was unable to find Nicolás Domínguez in space on the counter and allowed the defender a chance to intervene. The resulting set-piece caused celebratory reactions in the Forest dugout, nevertheless, when Elliot Anderson's delivery touched Virgil van Dijk to the defender and the central defender fired an irresistible strike from inside the box into the far corner. It brought echoes of the captain's chalked-off strike against City in the Forest's opener with Dan Ndoye standing in an offside position in front of Anfield's returning keeper the goalie.

VAR rulings and dispute

As expected, the the skipper was prompt to highlight the comparisons to the official, Madley. In contrast to the full-back at the Manchester, the forward made no obvious gesture in front of Alisson and the goal was given. The league clarified: "The initial ruling of goal was checked and verified by the assistant – with it judged that he was away from the line of vision of the goalkeeper and did not make an action that influenced an player."

Liverpool were reprieved by the match officials and VAR a short time following when the striker believed he had added to Nottingham Forest's advantage.

The defender, who suffered a dreadful day, made an feeble effort to clear an the midfielder's ball and directed the sphere against the attacker, who controlled before placing the lower corner of the goalkeeper's posts. Andrew Madley, in communication with his linesman, ruled out the strike for a illegal use of hand that several footage found it hard to prove or disprove. The authority announced: "The referee's call of no goal was assessed and upheld by the video assistant – with it considered that Igor Jesus inadvertently handled the object before scoring."

Another goal extends advantage

Any hope from the reprieve. Within seconds of the restart Mac Allister failed to intercept a ball towards Williams inside the Liverpool 18-yard box. Williams turned from his opponent and laid the visitors' second on a silver platter for partner full back Savona, who found the goalkeeper's upper corner with a simple placed shot.

Tactical changes fail

The manager made changes, replacing Ibrahima Konaté with the forward after the 55th minute and using the Les Bleus forward alongside the Swede. That experiment persisted all of 13 minutes before Isak was withdrawn following one more anonymous showing. Federico Chiesa and Ngumoha were also added to the Anfield's frontline but inefficiency in possession and solid visitors' defense kept the hosts at arm's length.

Late blow wraps up the victory

Forest demonstrated the finesse and cutting edge that Liverpool were lacking in the attacking phase to put the contest {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively