Nottingham Forest and Liverpool are geared up for Saturday’s match at the City Ground after both teams triumphed in their Premier League games over the middle of the week.
Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool: Preview
On Tuesday, The Tricky Trees kept Brighton & Hove Albion scoreless, only one day before Jurgen Klopp’s team defeated West Ham United 1-0.
Wolverhampton Wanderers needed a Ruben Neves penalty to defeat tenacious Nottingham Forest last Saturday, and Steve Cooper’s team showed off their improved defensive toughness by holding Brighton to a scoreless draw on the South Coast at the Amex.
Leandro Trossard’s attempt hit the woodwork, keeping Dean Henderson busy on a productive night for the Tricky Trees, whose Premier League standing is still precarious.
Nottingham Forest, who have now lost their last eight games in the Premier League, are still outside the top 19 but at least managed to move off the bottom of the standings over Leicester City, who may drop Cooper’s team back down to 20th against Leeds United later on Thursday.
As the division’s equal second-worst goal scorers with only seven strikes to their record, only Wolves and their pitiful five goals sit worse in that category, Cooper felt that taking a point away from the Amex was a move in the right direction for his club.
In their last league fixture, Liverpool and Nottingham have concluded the match with a 2-2 score. However, that was back in 1999. The Reds have won their last match against Nottingham last season in FA Cup fixture.
The only flame of hope for Nottingham fans is that Liverpool have failed to get a win out of any of their 4 away league games this season. However, it is Liverpool! Nottingham might be the club where the Reds register their first win in an away fixture.
Team News
Liverpool has scored first in their previous two games and held on for three points in each one, much to the pleasure of fans who have become accustomed to watching their team concede early this season. However, their injury troubles are not likely to get any better any time soon.
Darwin Nunez put on his best performance in a Liverpool jersey to date before being taken off by Klopp at the hour mark. In the 22nd minute, he sent a downward header past Lukasz Fabianski to score the sole goal of the game. However, after the match, the German mentioned his substitution as just a precautionary measure. Nunez’s starting position for the game against Nottingham Forest is yet unknown.
This time around, Jota won’t get the opportunity to repeat his FA Cup triumph at the City Ground since the Portugal forward will not be able to compete & will also miss the World Cup due to the calf injury he incurred in the last moments of the match against Manchester City.
Due to Luis Diaz’s ongoing knee injury as well as the absences of Arthur (thigh), Naby Keita (thigh), Joel Matip (calf), and Ibrahima Konate (muscle), Klopp’s choices on the left side are consequently restricted.
Along with Mo Salah and Firmino, Carvalho might get a chance to start against Nottingham.
Predicted XI
The Reds might be going with 4-3-3 formation. Here is the predicted lineup for the game against Nottingham Forest:
Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson, Thiago, Fabinho, Elliott, Carvalho, Firmino, Salah
What Anfield Home Predicts
Nottingham Forest 0-2 Liverpool.
Since Cooper switched to a four-man defense, Forest has been more solid defensively, but their offensive issues are still present and might be costly against a tenacious Liverpool.
The Merseyside giants should still win with little trouble, however, one shouldn’t anticipate Klopp’s team to keep scoring goals as they gradually rebuild their confidence.
