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The away side's success on Merseyside last season was a blip in an usually dominant top-flight performances at Anfield for Liverpool. A second successive win now, a far more convincing victory under their manager, was a clear sign of the issues plaguing the struggling former winners.

Nottingham Forest's superb display

The team was impressive as they achieved their largest triumph at Anfield. Goals from the Brazilian, excellent at both ends of the pitch, the full-back and the magnificent Morgan Gibbs-White inspired a deserved victory for a squad that also secured a initial shutout in twenty division games.

Liverpool's woes

The hosts, in comparison, were a mess as they suffered an 8th loss in 11 matches to slide into the second tier of the table. Poor at set-plays, again, ineffectual in attack, as before, with the striker withdrawn after 68 anonymous minutes, and defensively weak, they failed in all departments to succumb to a back-to-back heavy reverse.

Opening dominance without result

For 30 minutes the home side enjoyed the initiative, the occasional attack from the Forest attacker aside, but the shortcoming to capitalize on opportunities into the tangible reward of goals cost them dearly. the midfielder was presented with an early-on opening from Cody Gakpo's run into the area only for Anderson to deliver a brilliant line save with his head. The Liverpool midfielder had a another effort deflected shortly after while dazzling control from the winger produced another near-post opportunity for Kerkez. A Forest defender just succeeded to disturb the back into sending high.

Set-play vulnerability hits repeatedly

Arne Slot has often bemoaned the team's vulnerability to fast breaks and set-plays now. There was further evidence for frustration when the visitors scored first through a mix of the two.

Sean Dyche was shocked after Jesus was unable to release the midfielder in room on the fast attack and gave Ibrahima Konaté the opening to intervene. The ensuing corner kick triggered ecstatic reactions in the Forest dugout, though, when Anderson's delivery deflected off Virgil van Dijk to Murillo and the centre-half hammered an unbeatable finish from six yards into the far corner. It brought reminders of the defender's ruled out finish against City in the away team's opener with the forward positioned in an offside in front of Liverpool's returning keeper the goalie.

VAR decisions and dispute

As expected, the Liverpool captain was swift to point out the parallels to the official, Madley. However, unlike Robertson at the Etihad Stadium, Dan Ndoye made no apparent movement in front of Alisson and the strike remained. Officials stated: "The referee's call of goal was reviewed and upheld by VAR – with it judged that the player was not in the line of vision of Alisson and did not make an move that impacted an player."

The home side were let off by the referees and the system 120 seconds after when the striker believed he had increased the visitors' lead.

Konaté, who endured a dreadful afternoon, made an feeble effort to clear an the midfielder's ball and turned the object against the Forest striker, who brought down before slotting the bottom corner of the keeper's net. Andrew Madley, in contact with his linesman, chalked off the effort for a illegal use of hand that multiple replays found it hard to confirm or refute. League officials stated: "The referee's call of invalid score was assessed and supported by VAR – with it judged that Jesus unintentionally controlled the object before scoring."

Follow-up strike increases cushion

That was the end of the reprieve. Moments of the resumption Alexis Mac Allister failed to intercept a ball towards Williams inside the Liverpool penalty area. The former Liverpool defender evaded from his defender and set up the visitors' second on a silver platter for partner full back Nicolò Savona, who found the keeper's top corner with a simple side-foot finish.

Managerial substitutions fail

Liverpool's coach made changes, replacing the defender with Hugo Ekitiké after just before the hour and using the France striker with the Swede. This change persisted for only a short period before the striker was withdrawn following a further ineffective display. Chiesa and the youngster were further introduced to the hosts' offense but carelessness in ball control and sturdy opposition backline prevented the hosts at bay.

Concluding goal seals the victory

Forest demonstrated the finesse and penetration that the home team were missing in the final third to seal the match {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively