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Nottingham Forest's victory on Merseyside last season was a blip in an otherwise commanding English top division performances at Anfield for the hosts. This recurrence now, a much more emphatic victory under the Forest boss, was a clear sign of the challenges engulfing the faltering title holders.

The visitors' superb display

The team was brilliant as they secured their biggest win at Anfield. Goals from Murillo, outstanding at either side of the field, Nicolò Savona and the superb the playmaker led to a merited win for a squad that also maintained a maid clean sheet in 20 top-flight games.

Anfield's woes

The hosts, in comparison, were a chaotic as they suffered an eighth setback in eleven games to fall into the bottom half of the league. Ineffective at set-plays, once more, impotent in the final third, consistently, with Isak withdrawn after sixty-eight uninfluential moments, and vulnerable at the back, they faltered in every area to fall to a consecutive heavy defeat.

Early control lacking reward

For the opening half-hour the Reds maintained the advantage, the sporadic attack from the Forest attacker excepted, but the shortcoming to capitalize on opportunities into the tangible reward of finishes cost them dearly. Alexis Mac Allister was offered an early opportunity from the forward's surge into the penalty area only for Anderson to deliver a superb goalline clearance with his forehead. Mac Allister had a another effort blocked soon after while dazzling footwork from the winger produced another short-distance opening for Milos Kerkez. An opposition player just managed to pressure the defender into blazing over.

Dead-ball frailty hits once more

Arne Slot has frequently lamented Liverpool's vulnerability to fast breaks and dead balls now. This provided new reason for frustration when Forest opened the scoring through a combination of the both aspects.

Sean Dyche was aghast after Jesus did not pass to the midfielder in an open area on the break and presented Konaté a chance to clear. The ensuing corner caused ecstatic reactions in the Forest dugout, nevertheless, when the midfielder's cross touched Virgil van Dijk to Murillo and the centre-half drilled an unbeatable shot from inside the box into the back of the net. This evoked echoes of the defender's chalked-off finish against the champions in the away team's initial score with Ndoye standing in an illegal position in front of Liverpool's recovered keeper the Brazilian.

Video Assistant Referee rulings and debate

Predictably, the Liverpool captain was quick to highlight the parallels to the referee, the ref. In contrast to Robertson at the Manchester, Dan Ndoye made no clear action in front of the goalkeeper and the score remained. The league stated: "The initial ruling of valid strike was reviewed and confirmed by the video system – with it considered that the player was outside of the line of vision of the keeper and did not make an interference that impacted an opponent."

The Reds were reprieved by the officiating team and video review 120 seconds later when Jesus was convinced he had added to the visitors' advantage.

Konaté, who experienced a dreadful day, made an feeble try to remove an Sangaré's delivery and turned the object against the attacker, who brought down before placing the bottom corner of the keeper's net. Andrew Madley, in discussion with his assistant, ruled out the strike for a handball that various replays were unable to confirm or disprove. The Premier League stated: "The decision of no goal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it judged that Igor Jesus unintentionally touched the ball before finishing."

Second score extends lead

That was the end of the let-off. Almost immediately of the kick-off Alexis Mac Allister was unable to stop a ball towards Neco Williams inside the home box. The former Liverpool defender spun away from his opponent and set up Forest's second on a plate for fellow defender the scorer, who found Alisson's upper corner with a simple accurate strike.

Strategic adjustments prove ineffective

Liverpool's coach made changes, bringing off Ibrahima Konaté with the forward after just before the hour and using the France striker next to Alexander Isak. This change lasted just 13 minutes before Isak was replaced following a further anonymous display. Federico Chiesa and the youngster were further added to the hosts' offense but inefficiency in play and solid Forest defending held the Reds at distance.

Late strike seals the result

Forest showed the finesse and cutting edge that Liverpool were missing in the attacking phase to decide the game {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively