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Nottingham Forest's win here the previous campaign seemed an anomaly in an usually commanding Premier League performances at Anfield for Liverpool. Their repeat now, a far more convincing triumph under Sean Dyche, was indicative of the challenges plaguing the struggling title holders.

Nottingham Forest's superb showing

Nottingham Forest proved exemplary as they recorded their most significant victory at Liverpool's home. Goals from the defender, outstanding at both ends of the pitch, Nicolò Savona and the superb Gibbs-White inspired a well-earned win for a squad that also maintained a first clean sheet in twenty division games.

Anfield's woes

Liverpool, in comparison, were a mess as they endured an 8th loss in 11 games to slide into the lower half of the league. Poor at set-plays, again, ineffectual in the final third, as before, with Isak replaced after sixty-eight quiet period, and defensively weak, they struggled in every area to yield to a second successive 3-0 loss.

Opening control missing reward

For the opening half-hour Liverpool enjoyed the advantage, the occasional counter from the Forest attacker aside, but the inability to turn promise into the actual outcome of scores hurt them significantly. Alexis Mac Allister was given an early-on opportunity from the forward's surge into the area only for Anderson to deliver a superb desperate block with his head. The Liverpool midfielder had a another effort stopped shortly after while skilful skill from the winger set up another close-range opening for Kerkez. The visiting defender just succeeded to put off the defender into blazing over.

Dead-ball weakness strikes again

The manager has repeatedly criticized the team's vulnerability to transitions and set-plays this season. There was fresh cause for frustration when Nottingham Forest opened the scoring through a mix of the two.

The Forest manager was surprised after Jesus failed to find Domínguez in room on the fast attack and presented Ibrahima Konaté the opening to intervene. The ensuing corner caused celebratory reactions in the Forest dugout, however, when the midfielder's cross touched Van Dijk to the goalscorer and the central defender fired an unbeatable finish from six yards into the opposite side. This evoked reminders of the captain's disallowed goal against City in the visitors' opener with Dan Ndoye located in an illegal position in front of Liverpool's recovered keeper the Brazilian.

VAR rulings and debate

As expected, the Liverpool captain was swift to highlight the similarities to the match official, Madley. But unlike Robertson at the City's ground, the forward made no obvious movement in front of the goalkeeper and the score stood. Officials confirmed: "The referee's call of a score was reviewed and upheld by the video system – with it judged that the player was outside of the view of Alisson and did not make an action that affected an defender."

The Reds were saved by the officiating team and VAR 120 seconds following when the striker was convinced he had increased Forest's advantage.

The defender, who endured a poor match, made an unconvincing try to deal with an Ibrahim Sangaré's delivery and turned the sphere against the attacker, who handled before finding the lower corner of the keeper's net. Madley, in contact with his assistant, ruled out the effort for a handball that several replays found it hard to confirm or disprove. The authority stated: "The decision of no goal was assessed and upheld by the system – with it considered that the player unintentionally controlled the ball before netting."

Second strike extends advantage

That was the end of the reprieve. Moments of the restart Mac Allister failed to stop a delivery towards the defender inside the Liverpool box. Williams spun away from his marker and set up Forest's second on a platter for partner full back the scorer, who located the goalkeeper's upper corner with a composed placed shot.

Strategic substitutions prove ineffective

The manager went for broke, replacing the defender with the forward after the 55th minute and using the France striker next to the Swede. The tactical shift lasted for only 13 minutes before Alexander Isak was replaced following another ineffective showing. the winger and Rio Ngumoha were also introduced to the Liverpool attack but carelessness in possession and sturdy Forest defending held the home side at bay.

Late strike confirms the outcome

The visitors demonstrated the precision and incisiveness that the home team were lacking in the opposition half to seal the match {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively