Steve Cooper’s Nottingham Forest face a difficult test against Liverpool at the City Ground.
Victory would see Forest climb off the foot of the table, whilst Liverpool can go fifth with a win.
Team News
Harry Toffolo is ruled out for Nottingham Forest with a hamstring injury following their goalless draw at Brighton in midweek.
Renan Lodi (ankle) and Jack Colback (back) are doubts but Lewis O’Brien (illness), Moussa Niakhate (thigh) and Omar Richards (leg) remain absent.
Liverpool could be without Darwin Nunez after he suffered a muscle-related knock in their scrappy midweek win against West Ham.
Joel Matip, Diogo Jota (both calf), Ibrahima Konate (muscle), Luis Diaz (knee), Arthur Melo (muscle) and Naby Keita (unspecified) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Nottingham Forest have won just two of 10 previous Premier League meetings against Liverpool (W2, D4, L4).
- Liverpool are winless in five previous Premier League visits to Forest (D3, L2).
- Both teams have scored in all three previous draws in this Premier League fixture at City Ground.
- Forest have scored in four of five home matches this season – having only failed to do so in a 2-0 loss to Tottenham in August.
- Liverpool have won just one of six away matches in all competitions this season (W1, D2, L3).
Prediction
Although points have proven difficult to achieve so far this season, Forest finally seem to be clicking with two draws in their last three matches – particularly as a defensive unit, which certainly showed in Tuesday’s goalless draw at Brighton where they were totally outplayed from start to finish.
Forest also can take heart from the fact that they’ve only failed to score in one home match this season, so I am hoping that they can deliver a more attacking performance here even if likely that they will need to play on the counter-attack to combat Liverpool’s direct play.
Speaking of the visitors, they certainly seem to have found some form following their tactical tweak to become more direct in their play, which certainly is benefitting their attack even if wasteful because they’re somehow finding clinical winners now with two consecutive clean sheets.
Defending therefore is going to be super vital to Forest’s prospects because if they can dig deep and frustrate Jurgen Klopp’s Reds with a counter-attack strategy, they could well get something otherwise the result will depend on how clinical Liverpool’s end product is.
Prediction: Nottingham Forest 0-2 Liverpool
Result: Nottingham Forest 1-0 Liverpool
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