Nottingham Forest beat Liverpool 3-0 as Salah and Isak fail
Liverpool’s already faltering Premier League title defence hit a new low on Saturday when Nottingham Forest delivered 3-0 upset at Anfield, leaving Arne Slot’s side reeling and the Dutch manager under intense scrutiny.
The afternoon was riddled with contentious decisions, but Forest made the most of their chances while Liverpool looked strangely fragile at the back. The opening goal arrived just before the half-hour mark when the Reds failed to deal properly with a corner. Murillo reacted quickest in the six-yard box and calmly finished past Alisson. The build-up sparked fury on the touchline, as Dan Ndoye had lingered right in the goalkeeper’s line of sight; after a lengthy VAR check, the goal was allowed to stand.
Liverpool thought they should have had a lifeline moments later when Ibrahima Konaté’s attempted clearance struck Igor Jesus on the arm inside the area. Referee Andy Madley immediately pointed to the spot, only for VAR to intervene and rule that the contact was unintentional, cancelling what had looked like a clear penalty and disallowing Jesus’s follow-up finish for offside in the same phase.
Whatever Slot said at the interval clearly failed to settle his team. Forest emerged for the second half with far more belief and doubled their lead almost immediately. Neco Williams was given acres of space on the left side of the box, and his low delivery found Nicolo Savona completely unmarked to side-foot home from close range.
The visitors remained in complete control, and with twelve minutes remaining Morgan Gibbs-White put the result beyond any doubt. Picking the ball up on the edge of the area, he jinked past a couple of half-hearted challenges before drilling a low shot into the bottom corner, sending the travelling supporters into raptures and silencing Anfield almost entirely.
Earlier, both Alexis Mac Allister and Milos Kerkez had spurned presentable opportunities for the hosts, chances that felt enormously costly once Forest took the lead.
By full-time, a shell-shocked Liverpool had suffered their heaviest home league defeat in years, and the pressure on Arne Slot—still in his first season at the helm—has intensified dramatically.
