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The away side's win on Merseyside the previous campaign appeared a one-off in an usually dominant top-flight home campaign for Liverpool. A second successive win now, a decisively stronger success under their manager, was indicative of the challenges plaguing the struggling champions.

Nottingham Forest's superb display

Nottingham Forest proved brilliant as they secured their largest triumph at Liverpool's home. Goals from the Brazilian, outstanding at each end of the playing surface, Nicolò Savona and the magnificent Gibbs-White led to a merited victory for a team that also kept a initial shutout in 20 Premier League fixtures.

The home side's struggles

Liverpool, in comparison, were a mess as they endured an 8th setback in eleven matches to drop into the second tier of the table. Poor at dead-ball situations, repeatedly, ineffectual in attack, again, with Alexander Isak replaced after 68 anonymous moments, and poor in defense, they faltered in every area to fall to a second successive three-nil reverse.

Early dominance without result

For half an hour the home side enjoyed the initiative, the sporadic counter from the Forest attacker apart, but the failure to capitalize on opportunities into the tangible reward of finishes hurt them significantly. Alexis Mac Allister was presented with an early chance from the forward's surge into the area only for Elliot Anderson to produce a brilliant desperate block with his forehead. He had a another effort blocked soon after while dazzling skill from Salah created another near-post opening for Kerkez. A Forest defender just did enough to pressure the full-back into firing over.

Set-play frailty afflicts repeatedly

Arne Slot has frequently bemoaned his side's weakness to transitions and dead balls this season. This provided further evidence for frustration when the visitors scored first through a mix of the each weakness.

Sean Dyche was aghast after Igor Jesus did not find the midfielder in room on the break and gave Ibrahima Konaté the opening to clear. The resulting set-piece sparked ecstatic scenes in the Forest dugout, though, when Elliot Anderson's ball deflected off Van Dijk to Murillo and the centre-half drilled an unstoppable strike from inside the box into the opposite side. This evoked similarities of Van Dijk's ruled out strike against the champions in the visitors' opener with the forward standing in an offside position in front of Anfield's returning goalkeeper the Brazilian.

VAR rulings and controversy

As expected, the Van Dijk was quick to highlight the parallels to the match official, Andrew Madley. In contrast to the full-back at the City's ground, Dan Ndoye made no clear movement in front of the keeper and the score stood. The league confirmed: "The on-field decision of valid strike was reviewed and upheld by the video system – with it judged that Ndoye was not in the line of vision of the goalkeeper and avoided an interference that affected an opponent."

Liverpool were let off by the referees and video review two minutes after when the striker believed he had added to the visitors' lead.

Ibrahima Konaté, who endured a poor day, made an feeble effort to remove an Sangaré's cross and deflected the object against the Forest striker, who brought down before finding the bottom corner of the goalkeeper's net. The referee, in discussion with his linesman, chalked off the strike for a handball that various replays found it hard to confirm or deny. The authority said: "The referee's call of invalid score was assessed and confirmed by the video assistant – with it judged that Igor Jesus accidentally touched the sphere before finishing."

Another goal extends advantage

That was the end of the let-off. Moments of the restart Alexis Mac Allister did not stop a delivery towards Williams inside the Liverpool penalty area. The full-back spun away from his opponent and presented Forest's second on a plate for teammate full back the scorer, who located the keeper's upper corner with a composed side-foot finish.

Tactical adjustments prove ineffective

The manager went for broke, replacing Konaté with the forward after 55 minutes and partnering the French forward next to Isak. This change lasted for only a short period before Alexander Isak was substituted following one more anonymous performance. the winger and Ngumoha were additionally added to the Anfield's frontline but inefficiency in play and sturdy opposition backline kept the Reds at arm's length.

Late strike wraps up the outcome

Nottingham Forest demonstrated the precision and penetration that Liverpool were without in the attacking phase to seal the match {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively