Nottingham Forest marked a surprise win over Liverpool at Anfield, 1-0, as this victory came for the first time since 1969. Callum Hudson-Odoi’s second-half strike handed Liverpool boss Arne Slot his first defeat and continued Forest’s fine start to the season.
Liverpool had a pretty poor first half, and it was well after Forest’s disciplined performance, which saw the home attacking threats well contained. Alex Moreno did a great job of subduing Mohamed Salah, while Ryan Yates and Alexis Mac Allister were engaged in that physical midfield contest.
Luis Diaz almost opened the scoring for Liverpool when his thunderous drive hit the post after Yates failed to get the ball out for a throw-in. A few minutes later, the goalkeeper, Matz Sels got away with a howler fumbling Dia’z looping header but recovering in the nick of time to concede a corner that came to nothing.
When there was no sign of Liverpool getting better, on the hour mark, Slot made a triple substitution with Conor Bradley, Cody Gakpo, and Darwin Nunez all coming into action to at least see them make a breakthrough, but in fact, it was Forest’s change that really made the difference as Nuno Espirito Santo threw on Anthony Elanga, who found Hudson-Odoi, and the winger cut inside to curl in a beautiful strike past Alisson.
Visibly rocked by that goal, Liverpool never appeared to mount a serious comeback. Alisson was called into action again late on to deny Elanga, as Forest defended resolutely to secure a memorable victory.
Despite the defeat, Liverpool remain a point ahead of Forest in the Premier League table. Forest’s unbeaten start to the campaign does build in momentum, however.
