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The away side's win on Merseyside last season appeared a one-off in an otherwise strong English top division home record for the Merseyside club. Their repeat in the current campaign, a much more emphatic victory under the Forest boss, was a clear sign of the challenges plaguing the declining former winners.

Nottingham Forest's outstanding performance

The team was impressive as they achieved their most significant win at Anfield. Strikes from the defender, outstanding at either side of the playing surface, Nicolò Savona and the magnificent Gibbs-White spurred a deserved win for a team that also secured a initial shutout in twenty top-flight fixtures.

Liverpool's difficulties

The Reds, in comparison, were a mess as they experienced an 8th defeat in eleven matches to drop into the lower half of the standings. Ineffective at set-plays, repeatedly, impotent in the final third, again, with the striker substituted after sixty-eight quiet moments, and vulnerable at the back, they failed in each phase to succumb to a second successive 3-0 defeat.

Early control missing result

For the opening half-hour the home side held the advantage, the infrequent counter from Gibbs-White excepted, but the shortcoming to capitalize on opportunities into the hard currency of goals proved costly. Alexis Mac Allister was presented with an early-on opening from the forward's run into the box only for Anderson to execute a excellent goalline clearance with his head. The Liverpool midfielder had a another effort deflected moments later while impressive skill from Mohamed Salah set up another near-post chance for Milos Kerkez. The visiting defender just managed to put off the defender into firing over.

Dead-ball weakness strikes once more

Liverpool's coach has often bemoaned Liverpool's weakness to fast breaks and set pieces in the current campaign. There was further evidence for complaint when the visitors scored first through a mix of the two.

The Forest manager was shocked after Jesus was unable to pass to Domínguez in space on the fast attack and allowed the defender opportunity to intercept. The ensuing corner kick triggered celebratory reactions in the Forest dugout, however, when Elliot Anderson's ball glanced off Van Dijk to the goalscorer and the defender drilled an irresistible strike from six yards into the back of the net. There were similarities of the captain's disallowed strike against the champions in the visitors' initial score with the forward positioned in an offside in front of Liverpool's recovered goalkeeper the goalie.

The review system calls and dispute

As expected, the Liverpool captain was prompt to mention the parallels to the match official, Madley. But unlike the full-back at the Etihad Stadium, Dan Ndoye made no obvious movement in front of the goalkeeper and the strike was given. Officials stated: "The referee's call of goal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it judged that Ndoye was away from the sightline of Alisson and made no an interference that influenced an opponent."

The home side were let off by the officiating team and the system two minutes after when Jesus thought he had added to Forest's advantage.

The defender, who endured a dreadful match, made an unconvincing effort to deal with an the midfielder's ball and turned the ball against the attacker, who controlled before placing the bottom corner of the goalkeeper's goal. The referee, in communication with his assistant referee, disallowed the effort for a handling that various replays found it hard to confirm or deny. The authority stated: "The referee's call of invalid score was assessed and upheld by the video assistant – with it considered that the player unintentionally touched the ball before finishing."

Second strike widens cushion

So much for the let-off. Almost immediately of the resumption Alexis Mac Allister did not stop a delivery towards Neco Williams inside the Anfield penalty area. Williams evaded from his marker and set up Forest's second on a silver platter for fellow wing-back the scorer, who picked out Alisson's top corner with a simple placed shot.

Strategic substitutions do not work

Arne Slot went for broke, bringing off the defender with Hugo Ekitiké after just before the hour and pairing the French forward next to Alexander Isak. That experiment persisted for only 13 minutes before Isak was withdrawn following a further ineffective display. Chiesa and Ngumoha were additionally introduced to the Liverpool attack but carelessness in ball control and sturdy Forest defending prevented the hosts at bay.

Late goal wraps up the victory

The visitors displayed the finesse and cutting edge that Liverpool were lacking in the final third to seal the match {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively