The Reds facing crisis as Nottingham Forest conquer home ground again with a convincing triumph

Nottingham Forest's success at Anfield the previous campaign seemed an anomaly in an usually commanding English top division home campaign for Liverpool. This recurrence in the current campaign, a decisively stronger victory under the Forest boss, was indicative of the problems afflicting the declining former winners.

Nottingham Forest's superb performance

The team was exemplary as they recorded their largest win at the famous ground. Goals from Murillo, excellent at either side of the field, the full-back and the superb the playmaker inspired a deserved success for a squad that also secured a first clean sheet in 20 division games.

Liverpool's woes

Liverpool, in comparison, were a chaotic as they endured an 8th setback in eleven fixtures to fall into the bottom half of the standings. Poor at set pieces, repeatedly, unproductive in offense, as before, with the striker withdrawn after sixty-eight uninfluential period, and poor in defense, they failed in all departments to yield to a back-to-back heavy reverse.

Early control without result

For half an hour the home side maintained the initiative, the occasional break from Morgan Gibbs-White aside, but the failure to turn promise into the tangible reward of goals hurt them significantly. Mac Allister was offered an early chance from Gakpo's surge into the area only for Elliot Anderson to produce a excellent line save with his skull. The Liverpool midfielder had a another effort deflected shortly after while impressive control from Mohamed Salah set up another close-range chance for Kerkez. The visiting defender just did enough to put off the full-back into firing over.

Set-play vulnerability hits repeatedly

The manager has often criticized Liverpool's vulnerability to transitions and set pieces this season. There was new reason for concern when Nottingham Forest took the lead through a mix of the both aspects.

Dyche was aghast after Igor Jesus failed to find Nicolás Domínguez in an open area on the break and presented the defender the opening to intervene. The ensuing set-piece sparked celebratory reactions in the away team's area, though, when the midfielder's cross touched Van Dijk to the goalscorer and the central defender hammered an unbeatable finish from six yards into the back of the net. There were reminders of Van Dijk's disallowed finish against City in the away team's first goal with the forward positioned in an illegal position in front of Liverpool's recovered shot-stopper the Brazilian.

Video Assistant Referee decisions and controversy

Predictably, the Van Dijk was quick to point out the parallels to the match official, the ref. However, unlike the full-back at the City's ground, Ndoye made no apparent movement in front of the keeper and the score was given. The Premier League confirmed: "The on-field decision of valid strike was checked and upheld by the assistant – with it considered that he was away from the sightline of the goalkeeper and did not make an action that affected an opponent."

The home side were let off by the officiating team and VAR a short time later when Jesus believed he had increased the visitors' cushion.

Konaté, who suffered a dreadful afternoon, made an feeble effort to remove an Ibrahim Sangaré's cross and turned the sphere against the attacker, who brought down before finding the net of the goalkeeper's net. Madley, in discussion with his assistant referee, ruled out the strike for a handling that various footage found it hard to verify or disprove. The authority stated: "The ruling of no goal was checked and upheld by the video assistant – with it deemed that Jesus inadvertently touched the ball before scoring."

Follow-up strike extends advantage

Any hope from the reprieve. Within seconds of the resumption Mac Allister did not intercept a delivery towards Williams inside the Anfield penalty area. Williams spun away from his marker and presented the visitors' second on a plate for teammate full back Nicolò Savona, who picked out the goalkeeper's upper corner with a calm side-foot finish.

Managerial changes fail

Liverpool's coach went for broke, substituting Konaté with Hugo Ekitiké after just before the hour and partnering the French striker with Isak. This change continued for only 13 minutes before Isak was replaced following a further quiet showing. the winger and Rio Ngumoha were also thrown into the hosts' offense but carelessness in possession and sturdy visitors' defense prevented the Reds at bay.

Concluding strike confirms the result

Forest demonstrated the finesse and penetration that Liverpool were without in the opposition half to seal the match {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively