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Nottingham Forest's victory at Anfield last season was a blip in an otherwise dominant English top division home record for Liverpool. Their repeat now, a far more convincing triumph under their manager, was indicative of the problems plaguing the declining title holders.

Nottingham Forest's exemplary showing

The team was brilliant as they secured their biggest win at Anfield. Goals from the Brazilian, excellent at both ends of the playing surface, Nicolò Savona and the superb the playmaker inspired a merited win for a Forest side that also secured a initial shutout in 20 Premier League matches.

The home side's woes

The Reds, in comparison, were a mess as they experienced an eighth setback in eleven games to slide into the bottom half of the table. Weak at set pieces, repeatedly, unproductive in attack, again, with Alexander Isak withdrawn after 68 uninfluential period, and vulnerable at the back, they failed in every area to yield to a back-to-back heavy defeat.

Initial dominance missing reward

For half an hour the home side held the advantage, the sporadic break from Morgan Gibbs-White aside, but the inability to convert chances into the actual outcome of goals hurt them significantly. Alexis Mac Allister was presented with an initial chance from the forward's surge into the area only for Anderson to execute a brilliant desperate block with his skull. Mac Allister had a another effort stopped soon after while dazzling control from Salah produced another short-distance chance for Milos Kerkez. A Forest defender just did enough to pressure the defender into firing over.

Set-play vulnerability strikes repeatedly

Liverpool's coach has often criticized his side's susceptibility to counterattacks and set-plays in the current campaign. This provided new reason for complaint when the visitors scored first through a mix of the each weakness.

Dyche was aghast after Igor Jesus did not find Nicolás Domínguez in space on the counter and gave Konaté the opening to intercept. The ensuing set-piece triggered jubilant moments in the visitors' bench, however, when Anderson's cross glanced off Van Dijk to the defender and the central defender drilled an irresistible finish from inside the box into the back of the net. This evoked echoes of Van Dijk's chalked-off strike against the champions in the visitors' initial score with Dan Ndoye standing in an illegal position in front of Anfield's returning goalkeeper the goalie.

The review system rulings and dispute

Predictably, the the skipper was swift to highlight the similarities to the referee, the ref. But unlike Andy Robertson at the Manchester, the forward made no clear action in front of the goalkeeper and the strike was given. The Premier League confirmed: "The on-field decision of valid strike was reviewed and confirmed by the assistant – with it judged that he was outside of the line of vision of the keeper and made no an move that influenced an defender."

Liverpool were let off by the match officials and VAR a short time after when the striker believed he had added to Nottingham Forest's advantage.

The defender, who suffered a terrible day, made an unconvincing attempt to clear an Sangaré's delivery and deflected the ball against the forward, who controlled before slotting the net of the goalkeeper's net. Andrew Madley, in discussion with his assistant referee, ruled out the strike for a handling that multiple footage found it hard to confirm or disprove. The Premier League stated: "The decision of disallowed strike was checked and upheld by the video assistant – with it judged that the player unintentionally handled the ball before netting."

Another score extends cushion

That was the end of the let-off. Moments of the resumption Alexis Mac Allister did not cut out a delivery towards Williams inside the Liverpool 18-yard box. Williams evaded from his defender and laid the visitors' second on a silver platter for teammate wing-back Nicolò Savona, who found the keeper's top corner with a composed side-foot finish.

Managerial substitutions do not work

The manager made changes, replacing Ibrahima Konaté with the forward after 55 minutes and partnering the France forward with Alexander Isak. This change lasted all of less than a quarter-hour before the striker was withdrawn following one more anonymous display. Federico Chiesa and Ngumoha were also thrown into the Anfield's frontline but carelessness in ball control and resolute Forest defending prevented the Reds at distance.

Concluding goal confirms the victory

Forest demonstrated the precision and cutting edge that the hosts were lacking in the attacking phase to seal the match {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively