Nottingham Forest continue to fight for Premier League survival against title-chasing Liverpool at the City Ground.
Victory could see Forest climb up to 15th if Everton and Brentford both lose elsewhere, whilst Liverpool will stay top of the table with a win.
Team News
Willy Boly and Ibrahim Sangare could make their first starts for Forest following their return from Africa Cup of Nations, having returned with respective muscle and knee injuries.
Ola Aina (muscle), Nuno Tavares (unspecified) and Chris Wood (hamstring) remain absent.
Liverpool could welcome Andrew Robertson back into contention after he missed their FA Cup win over Southmpton due to illness.
Darwin Nunez (muscle), Dominik Szoboszlai (hamstring) and Wataru Endo (ankle) could be in contention for selection.
Ben Doak, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota (all knee), Joel Matip (ACL), Curtis Jones (bone), Thiago Alcantara (muscle), Ryan Gravenberch (ankle), Stefan Bajcetic (calf), Mohamed Salah and Alisson (both hamstring) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Forest host Liverpool at the City Ground on Saturday 2 March at 3pm GMT, untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Forest have won one of their last five league meetings against Liverpool (W1, D1, L3).
- Liverpool are winless in six Premier League trips to Nottingham Forest (D3, L3).
- Forest have conceded three goals in each of their last two meetings against Liverpool, albeit at Anfield (L2).
- Morgan Gibbs-White has produced more through balls than any other Forest player in the league this season (10).
- Harvey Elliott has been brought on as a substitute on more occasions in the top-flight than any other Liverpool player this season, with 18 of his 22 appearances having come as a substitute.
Prediction
Having endured a frustrating FA Cup exit against Man Utd in midweek, Forest now need to pick themselves up and play with the same attacking confidence as they did at Aston Villa last weekend, albeit with better defending which was evident against United.
Liverpool meanwhile are certainly in an injury crisis but Jurgen Klopp will be relieved to have Szoboszlai and Nunez back in the squad, although the youngsters did an excellent job against Southampton and has hopefully given Klopp a selection headche for later in the season.
Forest though are still defensively vulnerable despite their attacking improvement which could well swing this game in Liverpool’s favour in my opinion, because Klopp’s Reds have plenty of depth and goalscorers who can easily be the difference.
Prediction: Nottingham Forest 1-2 Liverpool
Result: Nottingham Forest 0-1 Liverpool