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Forest's success here in the prior year appeared a one-off in an usually dominant top-flight home campaign for Liverpool. Their repeat now, a decisively stronger triumph under their manager, was indicative of the issues afflicting the struggling champions.

Nottingham Forest's superb display

Forest were impressive as they achieved their most significant victory at Anfield. Strikes from the defender, outstanding at either side of the pitch, the full-back and the magnificent Gibbs-White led to a deserved victory for a team that also maintained a first clean sheet in 20 top-flight fixtures.

The home side's woes

The hosts, on the other hand, were a mess as they endured an 8th defeat in 11 fixtures to drop into the lower half of the league. Poor at set pieces, again, unproductive in offense, again, with Isak substituted after sixty-eight uninfluential minutes, and defensively weak, they failed in each phase to fall to a back-to-back three-nil reverse.

Opening pressure without reward

For 30 minutes Liverpool enjoyed the upper hand, the sporadic attack from Morgan Gibbs-White apart, but the shortcoming to convert chances into the tangible reward of finishes proved costly. the midfielder was presented with an early-on opportunity from Cody Gakpo's surge into the area only for Elliot Anderson to execute a excellent desperate block with his head. He had a second shot blocked moments later while impressive control from Salah set up another close-range opening for Milos Kerkez. A Forest defender just succeeded to pressure the full-back into firing over.

Dead-ball vulnerability afflicts repeatedly

The manager has often criticized his side's susceptibility to transitions and dead balls in the current campaign. This provided new reason for frustration when Forest opened the scoring through a combination of the two.

The Forest manager was aghast after Igor Jesus did not find Domínguez in room on the fast attack and allowed Konaté the opening to clear. The resulting corner triggered jubilant reactions in the visitors' bench, nevertheless, when Anderson's delivery touched Virgil van Dijk to the defender and the centre-half drilled an unbeatable shot from close range into the far corner. There were similarities of the defender's disallowed goal against the champions in the away team's initial score with the forward standing in an illegal position in front of Anfield's recovered goalkeeper the goalie.

VAR rulings and dispute

Predictably, the Liverpool captain was quick to highlight the similarities to the official, the ref. But unlike Andy Robertson at the City's ground, Dan Ndoye made no obvious action in front of the goalkeeper and the goal stood. The Premier League clarified: "The referee's call of valid strike was reviewed and upheld by VAR – with it deemed that he was away from the view of the keeper and did not make an move that affected an opponent."

The home side were let off by the officiating team and the system two minutes after when the striker thought he had added to Nottingham Forest's advantage.

Konaté, who endured a dreadful match, made an feeble attempt to deal with an the midfielder's cross and directed the ball against the forward, who controlled before slotting the lower corner of Alisson's goal. Madley, in communication with his assistant referee, disallowed the attempt for a illegal use of hand that various reviews struggled to prove or deny. The Premier League announced: "The decision of no goal was assessed and confirmed by VAR – with it judged that the player unintentionally handled the object before finishing."

Second goal extends advantage

That was the end of the respite. Within seconds of the restart Mac Allister did not intercept a ball towards the defender inside the home box. Williams evaded from his defender and set up the visitors' second on a plate for teammate full back the scorer, who located the keeper's top corner with a calm accurate strike.

Strategic changes prove ineffective

Liverpool's coach went for broke, replacing Konaté with Ekitiké after just before the hour and partnering the Les Bleus striker alongside Alexander Isak. This change persisted just less than a quarter-hour before the striker was substituted following a further quiet display. Chiesa and Ngumoha were additionally added to the Liverpool attack but sloppiness in ball control and sturdy opposition backline held the hosts at arm's length.

Late strike seals the outcome

The visitors demonstrated the precision and penetration that the home team were lacking in the attacking phase to seal the match {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively