4 hours ago
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As this game ticked into the 97th minute, Liverpool snatched victory as Alexis Mac Allister feasted on a loose ball in the Nottingham Forest penalty area. Just before stoppage time, Arne Slot was apoplectic as Mac Allister saw an effort disallowed for handball, though in reality the Forest defender Ola Aina had smashed his clearance into the Liverpool midfielder’s back and it flew in past Stefan Ortega, who initially saved Hugo Ekitiké’s header. Mac Allister’s goal flattened Forest in Vítor Pereira’s first league game in charge and got Liverpool out of jail.
Slot’s side were abysmal in the first half, registering two shots, one of which was blocked and the other off target, while they had just three touches in the opposition box. Mac Allister ultimately made his count at the death as Liverpool moved level with Chelsea, who were held on Saturday, and Manchester United, who are not in action until Monday’s trip to Everton. Liverpool were stodgy for long periods but did improve and at the end they snaffled a precious three points.
For Liverpool, for so long it seemed this would prove a missed opportunity against opponents teetering above the drop zone. Maybe that would be underplaying Pereira’s impressive impact, his side backing up Thursday’s memorable 3-0 win at Fenerbahce with a promising performance here. The Forest head coach felt compelled to ride with the momentum gained from Istanbul, naming an unchanged team despite not returning from Turkey until Friday afternoon. Strangely it seemed Liverpool were the side feeling the aftereffects of a long trip, despite last playing eight days ago. In the end, maybe that advantage of mental and physical freshness played a part.
The confidence had been flowing through the Forest team, Liverpool disjointed throughout. They never seemed to recover from Florian Wirtz pulling out of the warm up, Curtis Jones taking his place. If anything typified the upturn in mood at Forest, it was the sight of Murillo, who opened the scoring in style in midweek, pushing himself to the front of the queue for a free-kick from the edge of the box or perhaps the Brazilian’s centre-back partner Nikola Milenkovic leathering a strike at goal from distance seconds before the half-time whistle. Forest were enjoying themselves again.
The hosts were aggressive from the first whistle, Ibrahim Sangaré pinching possession from Jones before floating a cross from right to left for Callum Hudson-Odoi, who called Alisson into action inside two and a half minutes. Slot tried to drag his players forward but the waves of Forest pressure kept coming. Omari Hutchinson, finally showing signs of the ability that led Forest to pay a club-record £37.5m for him last summer, sent a low effort at goal. Virgil van Dijk swiped the ball away from the toes of Igor Jesus just as the striker shaped to shoot. Elliot Anderson, the best player on the pitch and a highly fancied by Thomas Tuchel, curled wide when looking for the far corner.
Liverpool improved after the break, though they had set a low bar. Liverpool stitched together their first incisive attacking move in the 53rd minute, Cody Gakpo cutting inside off the left flank and floating a cross towards Mohamed Salah, lurking at the back post. Salah cushioned a header down for Jones, whose volley was blocked by Ortega. Until the last moments of stoppage time, it was Liverpool’s only other effort on target and Salah contributed little else before being replaced by the 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha, who was the catalyst for Mac Allister’s disallowed goal. In the seventh minute of stoppage time Mac Allister was again in the right place to fire in the winner.
