For Nottingham Forest, this was one of those spectacular occasions worth the long wait. After 23 years outside the top flight, how they enjoyed giving Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool a bloody nose. Steve Cooper’s name reverberated around this throbbing stadium at the final whistle as supporters launched into a chorus of “Forest are back”. Taiwo Awoniyi, who was let go by Liverpool last year without making a first-team appearance, scored the only goal to earn Forest’s second Premier League win of the season and lift them off the bottom of the table.
Forest supporters celebrated Virgil van Dijk’s miss from a Trent Alexander-Arnold free-kick with 30 seconds of normal time to play like a goal, and went berserk when Dean Henderson somehow kept out Van Dijk’s downward header midway through five minutes of second-half stoppage time. An unmarked Van Dijk met an Alexander-Arnold corner on the edge of the six-yard box and planted his header but Henderson clambered low to save, leading Morgan Gibbs-White to bump chests with the England goalkeeper. Henderson then tipped over to deny Mohamed Salah.
At this point last year Liverpool were a formidable force, unbeaten and blowing teams away at will. They had just won successive league games 5-0, one of those a rout of Manchester United at Old Trafford days after victory at Atlético Madrid in the Champions League. Liverpool, all in white, were a pale imitation of that team. Klopp made five changes from his side’s victory over West Ham in midweek, with James Milner reverting to right-back in place of Alexander-Arnold who would enter as second-half substitute, and Jordan Henderson also dropping to the bench despite Thiago Alcântara missing with an ear infection. Salah was muted in attack and Liverpool appeared disjointed in midfield, with Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott overrun and overawed. Milner made a desperate flying block approaching the hour to deny Gibbs-White from doubling Forest’s lead and with five minutes to spare Alisson superbly denied the omnipresent Ryan Yates.
Nottingham Forest’s Dean Henderson clambers down to stop a Virgil van Dijk header in injury time. Photograph: Michael Zemanek/Shutterstoc
Liverpool remain without an away win in the league this season. Roberto Firmino sent a pass thudding straight out of play in the first half and Joe Gomez overcooked a simple ball to set Salah free down the right towards the end of the second. This game could have taken a different shape had Van Dijk taken Liverpool’s best chance eight minutes before the break. Liverpool recycled a corner, with Milner shifting on to his left foot and sending a perfect cross towards the back post, where Van Dijk was unmarked after peeling off Cheikhou Kouyaté. The centre-back presumably did not realise quite how much room he had to play with and nodded the ball across the six-yard box in search of Firmino but it whirled out for a goal-kick.
Forest gave as good as they got and deserved their goal 10 minutes into the second half. Gomez was booked for tugging at Awoniyi on halfway and Yates arrowed the resulting free-kick wide for the centre-back Steve Cook, who sent a superb cross in from the right. Awoniyi arranged his feet and sent a shot against a post before tucking in the rebound and duly soaking up the adulation from the Trent End. Klopp, arms crossed in the away technical area, was unmoved.
Henderson dropped to his knees early on to deny Fábio Carvalho and Firmino headed wide after eluding Cook at a corner but Forest refused to rollover and grew in confidence. Neco Williams, who signed from Liverpool in the summer, was bright when bustling forward from left-back and Kouyaté, who replaced Orel Mangala in one of two changes, sent Forest’s first shot at Alisson.
Awoniyi saw a bumbling shot gathered by the goalkeeper and a few minutes later the Forest striker was released by Gibbs-White but Jesse Lingard failed to make the most of a two v two, sending a shot into Alisson’s midriff. But Liverpool struggled to contain Awoniyi and after Salah and Van Dijk were thwarted by Henderson’s late heroics, he was able to savour a special moment.