MatchThe opposition lowdown: Nottingham Forest

Recent form

Forest come in to the game having exited the Emirates FA Cup in midweek at the hands of Manchester United following a late 1-0 defeat.

In the Premier League, they were beaten by Aston Villa 4-2 last weekend, though they were victorious in their last City Ground fixture.

Nuno Espirito Santo's men ran out 2-0 winners over West Ham United on home soil thanks to goals from Taiwo Awoniyi and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Forest currently sit 17th in the standings, holding a four-point cushion over the relegation places after 26 matches.

Opposition view

Sarah Clapson, Nottingham Forest correspondent, Nottingham Post

On the season so far…

It has been a tough one overall. Up and down is probably the best way of describing it so far. Forest made a positive and encouraging start but then lost their way towards the end of Steve Cooper's tenure.

Nuno Espirito Santo came in and made a quick impact with an immediate upturn in results and performances. However, 2024 has been hard going so far and Forest haven't picked up as many points as they would have liked since the turn of the year.

On Espirito Santo's style of play and impact…

He has changed formation, with Forest generally playing a 4-2-3-1 now. When he first arrived, he was keen to instil belief and a winning mentality in the players. He still wants that and tries to encourage them to impose their play on games, but inconsistency continues to be a bit of an issue.

Forest are capable of playing nice attacking football under Nuno. Creating chances and scoring goals generally hasn't been a problem. They can be particularly dangerous on the counter-attack. It is at the opposite end of the pitch where the team still requires the most work. They have been conceding too many goals.

On Forest's key player…

Morgan Gibbs-White is always an important player for Forest. Nuno has moved him to his favoured No.10 role, where he is able to have more of an influence on games. He is likely to have Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi either side of him, and as a trio they are capable of causing any defence problems.

Predicted line-up (4-2-3-1): Sels, Williams, Felipe, Murillo, Toffolo, Danilo, Dominguez, Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi, Awoniyi.

Previous meeting

Liverpool hosted Forest in the reverse fixture in the Premier League back in October and secured a 3-0 victory.

Goals from Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah earned the three points that day for Jürgen Klopp's men.

What they said

Forest head coach Nuno

"We're going to face a tough opponent. Jürgen [is a] fantastic manager, it will be good to see him. But we have to focus on the team and they have good players.

"We need to be clinical on the chances we have and control their game, especially the offensive movements that they have. They are really dangerous; speed, quality.

"It will require a lot of effort from us, but we have to keep this idea of playing and going forward, no matter which opponent we have, because this is what our team needs.

"It needs our players to have freedom because they have talent. Let's reinforce the things that we do well. And defensively, we have to be aware of the quality of Liverpool's players."

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