Nottm Forest vs Liverpool LIVE: Premier League result and reaction after Taiwo Awoniyi winner
Premier League result and reaction after Forest stunned Liverpool to move off the bottom of the Premier League
Nottingham Forest ended their 10-game winless streak in style as Taiwo Awoniyi returned to haunt former club Liverpool and stop their Premier League revival.
Awoniyi was on the books at Anfield for six years without ever playing for them, but showed Jurgen Klopp what he was all about, securing a famous 1-0 win that lifts Forest off the bottom of the table after his second-half goal.
Forest beat Liverpool at the City Ground in their first ever Premier League match 30 years ago and this victory will be just as memorable as it is their first three points since August and will provide hope that they can make a fist of their return to the big time after picking up just three points from their last 27 available.
Follow all the reaction from the City Ground after Nottingham Forest took on Liverpool in Saturday’s early kick off:
The teams arrive
Here’s a few snaps of the players arriving at the City Ground ahead of today’s match. Kick off is just under 30 minutes away and the teams will head out for the warm ups soon.
Klopp explains Nunez and Thiago absences
Liverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp, spoke to BT Sport and address why Darwin Nunuz nor Thiago Alcantara have not been named in today’s matchday squad and whether the omissions were merely precautionary measures.
“No [it’s not precautionary], I wish I could do that.” said the Liverpool boss,
“For Darwin the game comes too early, he still feels the intensity of the game muscle-wise so there was no chance he could play today. Maybe he could play tomorrow or on Monday but not today.
“And Thiago got a bad ear infection overnight. The decision was made this morning at 5.15. That’s how it is sometimes and that’s the reason for that.”
Poor on the road
Liverpool have failed to win any of their four away league games this season (two draws, two defeats).
They have only twice had worse runs from the beginning of a Premier League season, going seven matches without victory in both 1992/93 and 2006/07.
Jurgen Klopp explains how formation switch has freshened up Liverpool
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp admits he had to tweak their system in order to improve results as he felt familiarity with his methods had dulled the players’ focus.
The German switched from his tried-and-trusted 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 after a number of inconsistent performances – especially defensively – and the change has brought four victories in five matches.
Klopp has spoken recently of wanting his side to be more unpredictable in the final third but the departure from his previously-successful formula had more to do with instilling more defensive solidity.
Jurgen Klopp explains how formation switch has freshened up Liverpool
The change has brought four victories in five matches, but Klopp faces another fresh injury concern with Darwin Nunez requiring treatment on a hamstring problem
A terrible start
Nottingham Forest have equalled their worst record after 11 games of a top-flight season, set in 1992. They beat Middlesbrough in their 12th match.
Forest are winless in nine Premier League fixtures, the longest current run in the division with three draws and six defeats.
Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool team changes
Steve Cooper makes two changes to the Nottingham Forest team with Cheikhou Kouyate coming into midfield to replace Orel Mangala whilst Taiwo Awoniyi leads the line with Brennan Johnson dropping to the bench.
Jurgen Klopp meanwhile swaps out five players from the team that faced West Ham in midweek. James Milner and Andy Robertson return to the back line with a new looking midfield of Fabinho, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott. Darwin Nunez drops out of the squad entirely.
Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool line-ups
Nottingham Forest XI: Henderson, Aurier, Cook, McKenna, Williams, Yates, Freular, Kouyate, Gibbs-White, Awoniyi, Lingard
Liverpool XI: Alisson, Milner, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Jones, Elliott, Salah, Firmino, Carvalho
Premier League standings
Nottingham Forest come into the game sitting bottom of the Premier League with just one win from 11 games. They’ve drawn three including two of their last three matches but have lost seven and look to be up against it today when they take on Liverpool.
Jurgen Klopp’s men sit seventh and if they earn all three points at the City Ground they will temporarily jump above Manchester United into fifth and will be just one point behind fourth placed Chelsea.
Chelsea host United in today’s late kick off at 5.30pm.
Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool
Liverpool have won half of the previous 100 league meetings between these sides but Forest are unbeaten in 12 top-flight home games in this fixture since a 2-0 defeat on 28th October 1984.
There has not been an away victory in any of the 10 Premier League matches between these teams but Liverpool beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the City Ground in last season’s FA Cup quarter-finals through a goal by Diogo Jota.
Last time out
Nottingham Forest picked up a needed point when they faced Brighton at the Amex Stadium during the week with goalkeeper Dean Henderson is fine form to keep the Seagulls from scoring.
Forest offered little in the way of attacking threats and only recorded three attempts on goal but they denied Brighton and saw out a goalless draw to stay within one win of safety in the Premier League table.
Over at Anfield Darwin Nunez was the hero as he found the back of the net midway through the first half to give the Reds the advantage in a testing encounter against West Ham. Nunez himself had six attempts at goal - out of Liverpool’s tally of 22 - but the home side were not able to extend their lead.
That led to a nervous finish with West Ham pushing for an equaliser but Liverpool kept a second clean sheet in as many games and are now back in the race to get into the top four.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments