AnalysisLiverpool 3-2 Nottingham Forest: Five talking points

All five goals in Saturday’s Premier League game at Anfield arrived in the second half, with Diogo Jota netting the Reds’ other two.

Here are five talking points to emerge from the action in L4…

Liverpool 3-2 Forest: Extended highlights

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Salah equals Fowler

Salah’s unerring volley was his 183rd goal for Liverpool – a running total that moves him level with Robbie Fowler in sixth place in the club’s all-time top scorers list.

It’s taken the No.11 just 298 appearances to reach that mark and 27 of his 183 goals have been scored this season, meaning he is, once again, on course to net 30 in a campaign.

He needs another three goals in the Reds’ final seven matches of this term to get there and that would also take him up to joint-fifth in the all-time standings, alongside Steven Gerrard.

Oh, he wears the No.20…

An injury-hit season meant Jota went a shade over a year without a Liverpool goal prior to his brace at Elland Road on Monday night.

This time, the Portugal forward’s wait to get on the scoresheet lasted only five days as his predatory penalty-box instincts ensured the Reds finally made the breakthrough in the early minutes of the second half.

And then, after Neco Williams had equalised with a deflected hit, Jota made it four goals in two games by clinically dispatching a left-footed volley after he’d chested down Andy Robertson’s free-kick delivery.

Only an acrobatic save from Keylor Navas prevented the No.20 from completing a quickfire hat-trick before he departed to a standing ovation inside the final 10 minutes.

Sticking, then twisting

The XI that roared back against Arsenal before routing Leeds United 6-1 was rewarded as Jürgen Klopp named an unchanged starting line-up for a third consecutive match for the first time since January 2020.

But with the vast majority of his squad now fit, the strength in depth available to the manager was evident in the quality of the players he brought off the bench.

Thiago Alcantara, Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and James Milner – making the 850th appearance of his club career – came on as second-half substitutes.

And, with a trip to West Ham United and an Anfield clash with Tottenham Hotspur to come before the end of the month, Klopp will delight in having plenty of selection options at his disposal.

50+1

After hitting the landmark of 50 Premier League assists by setting up two goals in the win at Leeds, Trent Alexander-Arnold wasted little time in getting started on his second half-century.

The No.66 swung in a lovely delivery for Salah to volley home the decider at the Kop end – his fourth assist in his last three top-flight outings – and that moment crowned another influential display in his new hybrid role.

Again, Alexander-Arnold moved into central midfield when his team were in possession and again he impressed in dictating the play there while reverting to right-back when Forest had the ball.

Jürgen’s Anfield century

Saturday’s win represented Klopp’s 100th league victory at Anfield.

It took him 144 matches to achieve the feat and he is only the fourth manager in the club’s history to do so, after Bob Paisley (131 games), Bill Shankly (139) and Tom Watson (166).

Boss.