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Nottingham Forest's victory on Merseyside in the prior year was a blip in an otherwise commanding Premier League home campaign for the hosts. This recurrence now, a far more convincing victory under their manager, was symptomatic of the problems engulfing the struggling champions.

Forest's superb display

Nottingham Forest proved impressive as they secured their largest triumph at the famous ground. Scores from Murillo, superb at each end of the pitch, Savona and the magnificent Morgan Gibbs-White spurred a deserved victory for a team that also secured a first clean sheet in 20 division matches.

Anfield's difficulties

The hosts, by contrast, were a disorganized as they experienced an 8th loss in eleven games to drop into the bottom half of the league. Poor at set-plays, again, ineffectual in offense, as before, with Alexander Isak replaced after sixty-eight anonymous period, and defensively weak, they failed in every area to succumb to a second successive three-nil loss.

Early pressure without reward

For 30 minutes the Reds maintained the advantage, the sporadic counter from the Forest attacker excepted, but the failure to convert chances into the actual outcome of finishes proved costly. Alexis Mac Allister was presented with an initial chance from the forward's surge into the penalty area only for Anderson to execute a brilliant line save with his skull. The Liverpool midfielder had a second shot stopped moments later while dazzling skill from Mohamed Salah set up another short-distance opportunity for the defender. An opposition player just managed to pressure the defender into firing over.

Dead-ball vulnerability strikes once more

The manager has frequently bemoaned his side's susceptibility to counterattacks and set pieces now. He was given new reason for concern when Forest opened the scoring through a combination of the each weakness.

The Forest manager was aghast after Jesus was unable to find Nicolás Domínguez in space on the fast attack and presented Ibrahima Konaté opportunity to clear. The following corner caused ecstatic moments in the Forest dugout, though, when Anderson's cross deflected off the captain to the goalscorer and the central defender fired an unbeatable shot from six yards into the opposite side. It brought echoes of Van Dijk's ruled out goal against the champions in the Forest's first goal with the forward positioned in an illegal position in front of the home side's fit-again goalkeeper the Brazilian.

The review system calls and debate

As expected, the Van Dijk was swift to highlight the parallels to the referee, Andrew Madley. But unlike the full-back at the Manchester, the forward made no obvious action in front of the keeper and the strike was given. The league confirmed: "The on-field decision of valid strike was reviewed and confirmed by the video system – with it deemed that Ndoye was away from the sightline of the keeper and avoided an move that influenced an defender."

Liverpool were reprieved by the referees and video review 120 seconds after when the striker believed he had added to Forest's cushion.

The defender, who endured a terrible day, made an weak try to clear an Sangaré's cross and deflected the object against the Forest striker, who brought down before placing the bottom corner of the goalkeeper's net. The referee, in discussion with his assistant, ruled out the attempt for a illegal use of hand that several reviews struggled to confirm or disprove. League officials said: "The referee's call of invalid score was reviewed and upheld by the system – with it considered that Igor Jesus unintentionally controlled the sphere before netting."

Another score increases lead

That was the end of the reprieve. Moments of the kick-off Mac Allister failed to cut out a ball towards Williams inside the home penalty area. Williams spun away from his opponent and laid Forest's second on a plate for partner wing-back Nicolò Savona, who picked out the keeper's top corner with a calm side-foot finish.

Strategic substitutions prove ineffective

Arne Slot made changes, replacing Konaté with Ekitiké after the 55th minute and pairing the France striker alongside Alexander Isak. That experiment continued all of a short period before Alexander Isak was replaced following another ineffective performance. Chiesa and the youngster were additionally thrown into the Liverpool attack but carelessness in ball control and resolute Forest defending kept the Reds at bay.

Final strike seals the outcome

The visitors showed the finesse and cutting edge that the hosts were missing in the opposition half to put the contest {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively