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Nottingham Forest's victory at Anfield last season was a blip in an usually strong Premier League home campaign for the hosts. This recurrence now, a far more convincing victory under the Forest boss, was symptomatic of the challenges plaguing the faltering champions.

Forest's outstanding performance

Nottingham Forest proved brilliant as they recorded their most significant win at Anfield. Strikes from the Brazilian, outstanding at each end of the pitch, Nicolò Savona and the superb Morgan Gibbs-White spurred a merited success for a team that also secured a maid clean sheet in 20 Premier League games.

Anfield's woes

Liverpool, on the other hand, were a disorganized as they endured an 8th setback in eleven games to fall into the second tier of the league. Ineffective at set pieces, once more, unproductive in offense, consistently, with the striker replaced after sixty-eight quiet minutes, and vulnerable at the back, they struggled in every area to succumb to a second successive three-nil reverse.

Early dominance missing result

For the opening half-hour the home side held the upper hand, the infrequent break from the Forest attacker excepted, but the inability to turn promise into the actual outcome of goals hurt them significantly. the midfielder was offered an initial chance from Cody Gakpo's drive into the area only for Elliot Anderson to deliver a brilliant line save with his forehead. The Liverpool midfielder had a another effort deflected moments later while dazzling footwork from the winger set up another close-range opening for Milos Kerkez. A Forest defender just did enough to put off the back into sending high.

Set-play weakness hits once more

Liverpool's coach has often bemoaned Liverpool's susceptibility to transitions and set pieces now. There was fresh cause for complaint when Nottingham Forest opened the scoring through a blend of the two.

Dyche was aghast after Igor Jesus failed to pass to Nicolás Domínguez in room on the counter and allowed Konaté the opening to intervene. The following corner triggered celebratory scenes in the away team's area, nevertheless, when the midfielder's delivery glanced off the captain to the goalscorer and the defender drilled an irresistible strike from six yards into the back of the net. It brought reminders of the captain's ruled out strike against City in the visitors' initial score with Dan Ndoye located in an illegal position in front of the home side's returning goalkeeper Alisson.

The review system calls and controversy

As expected, the the skipper was swift to point out the parallels to the referee, Madley. However, unlike Andy Robertson at the City's ground, Dan Ndoye made no clear movement in front of Alisson and the score stood. Officials confirmed: "The initial ruling of valid strike was reviewed and verified by the assistant – with it judged that Ndoye was outside of the sightline of the keeper and avoided an action that impacted an opponent."

The home side were let off by the referees and video review 120 seconds after when Jesus thought he had doubled Forest's advantage.

The defender, who suffered a terrible day, made an weak effort to deal with an Sangaré's cross and directed the sphere against the forward, who handled before finding the bottom corner of the goalkeeper's posts. The referee, in discussion with his linesman, ruled out the effort for a illegal use of hand that various reviews struggled to prove or disprove. League officials announced: "The ruling of disallowed strike was assessed and confirmed by VAR – with it considered that Jesus unintentionally controlled the ball before netting."

Second strike extends advantage

So much for the reprieve. Almost immediately of the kick-off Alexis Mac Allister failed to intercept a delivery towards Neco Williams inside the Anfield penalty area. The full-back spun away from his defender and laid Forest's second on a plate for teammate full back Nicolò Savona, who found the keeper's upper corner with a calm side-foot finish.

Managerial substitutions fail

Arne Slot took risks, substituting Konaté with the forward after just before the hour and pairing the French striker next to the Swede. That experiment persisted all of less than a quarter-hour before Alexander Isak was substituted following a further anonymous performance. Federico Chiesa and Rio Ngumoha were additionally thrown into the Anfield's frontline but carelessness in play and sturdy visitors' defense prevented the Reds at arm's length.

Concluding goal seals the result

Forest demonstrated the precision and penetration that the home team were lacking in the final third to put the contest {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively