The Reds facing crisis as the visitors storm their fortress once more with three-nil win

Forest's win at Anfield the previous campaign seemed an anomaly in an typically dominant Premier League home campaign for the Merseyside club. Their repeat this season, a far more convincing success under Sean Dyche, was a clear sign of the issues plaguing the declining champions.

Nottingham Forest's outstanding display

Forest were brilliant as they recorded their biggest victory at the famous ground. Scores from Murillo, excellent at each end of the playing surface, the full-back and the magnificent the playmaker spurred a deserved victory for a team that also secured a maid clean sheet in 20 Premier League games.

The home side's struggles

The hosts, by contrast, were a mess as they suffered an 8th defeat in 11 fixtures to drop into the bottom half of the table. Poor at set pieces, once more, unproductive in the final third, consistently, with Alexander Isak withdrawn after sixty-eight anonymous moments, and vulnerable at the back, they faltered in all departments to succumb to a second successive 3-0 loss.

Initial dominance lacking result

For 30 minutes Liverpool maintained the upper hand, the infrequent attack from Morgan Gibbs-White aside, but the inability to turn promise into the actual outcome of goals hurt them significantly. Mac Allister was presented with an early opportunity from the forward's surge into the box only for Elliot Anderson to execute a brilliant line save with his head. The Liverpool midfielder had a follow-up attempt deflected shortly after while impressive footwork from Mohamed Salah produced another short-distance chance for Kerkez. The visiting defender just succeeded to disturb the back into firing over.

Set-piece weakness afflicts once more

The manager has frequently bemoaned the team's weakness to fast breaks and set pieces this season. This provided new reason for frustration when Nottingham Forest took the lead through a mix of the two.

The Forest manager was surprised after Jesus failed to find Domínguez in an open area on the counter and gave the defender opportunity to intercept. The resulting set-piece sparked celebratory reactions in the visitors' bench, nevertheless, when Anderson's ball glanced off Van Dijk to the defender and the central defender fired an irresistible strike from six yards into the opposite side. It brought reminders of the captain's disallowed goal against City in the away team's opener with the forward positioned in an illegal position in front of the home side's fit-again keeper the Brazilian.

Video Assistant Referee decisions and dispute

Unsurprisingly, the Van Dijk was swift to highlight the parallels to the referee, Madley. However, unlike Andy Robertson at the City's ground, the forward made no apparent movement in front of Alisson and the strike remained. The league confirmed: "The referee's call of goal was reviewed and confirmed by the assistant – with it considered that he was not in the view of the goalkeeper and made no an action that influenced an opponent."

The Reds were saved by the referees and the system 120 seconds later when Igor Jesus thought he had doubled Forest's advantage.

Ibrahima Konaté, who endured a poor match, made an feeble attempt to clear an Ibrahim Sangaré's ball and deflected the object against the attacker, who controlled before slotting the lower corner of Alisson's goal. Andrew Madley, in communication with his assistant, chalked off the effort for a handling that several replays struggled to prove or refute. League officials announced: "The referee's call of no goal was assessed and supported by the video assistant – with it deemed that Jesus unintentionally controlled the object before scoring."

Follow-up strike extends cushion

Any hope from the respite. Almost immediately of the restart Mac Allister was unable to cut out a delivery towards the defender inside the Anfield 18-yard box. The full-back evaded from his opponent and laid their next goal on a silver platter for teammate wing-back Nicolò Savona, who found Alisson's top corner with a composed placed shot.

Tactical changes fail

Liverpool's coach went for broke, bringing off Ibrahima Konaté with Hugo Ekitiké after the 55th minute and pairing the French forward with the Swede. That experiment persisted just a short period before Alexander Isak was replaced following another anonymous performance. Chiesa and the youngster were further thrown into the hosts' offense but carelessness in ball control and solid Forest defending prevented the Reds at bay.

Late strike wraps up the result

The visitors demonstrated the finesse and cutting edge that the home team were lacking in the final third to put the contest {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively