Liverpool’s Trip to Nottingham Forest: A Potential Banana Skin

Liverpool travel to Nottingham Forest on Saturday as they look to ramp up the pressure on their Premier League title rivals. Coming into the game off the back of their Carabao Cup success and victories against Luton Town and Southampton, confidence is high in the Liverpool camp.

Many will be predicting a fairly straight-forward victory for the Reds on Saturday, but this fixture could be trickier than some are anticipating. Today we’re going to be taking a deeper look at Nottingham Forest and a few key threats to look out for.

Recent Form

Forest come into Saturday’s game in pretty poor form, with just two wins in their last nine games across all competitions. It’s also important to note that one of those victories was a penalty shootout win over Bristol City in the FA Cup. They’ve only registered one Premier League win so far this calendar year, with a 2-0 home victory over West Ham United a couple of weeks ago.

Their last five games saw them lose to Newcastle United, Aston Villa and most recently Manchester United in the FA Cup. Since the start of 2024, they’ve also failed to beat the likes of Bournemouth, Brentford, Arsenal and Blackpool.

Head-to-Head

Many Liverpool fans will have bad memories from Liverpool’s last trip to the City Ground, which finished in a 1-0 defeat last season. However, as we’ve seen, this Liverpool side is head and shoulders above that of last season.

Despite that defeat, Liverpool hold a very strong record against Nottingham Forest over recent years. Last season was the Reds’ first defeat to Forest since 1996 and you would have to back to 1991 for the last time Forest beat Liverpool by a scoreline different to 1-0.

Liverpool have won five of their last eight meetings with Forest, with a 3-0 victory over them earlier this season. However, Liverpool’s away record at Forest is dreadful. With just one win in their last 14 trips to Nottingham Forest, Klopp will be looking to put that record into the history books for good.

Key Threats

Anthony Elanga

The Former Manchester United winger has become an absolute hit at the City Ground and has undoubtedly been their standout performer so far this season. The Swedish international has five goals and seven assists to his name already and will be looking to cause Liverpool’s full-backs some problems on Saturday.

Taiwo Awoniyi

Awoniyi spent several years at Liverpool but never kicked a ball due to work permit issues. However, since he arrived at Nottingham Forest, he has proved himself as a Premier League worthy forward. The Nigerian scored the winner in Liverpool’s defeat at the City Ground last season and has six goals and three assists to his name so far this season.

Morgan Gibbs-White

Despite Awoniyi and Elanga stealing the headlines so far this season, many would suggest that Gibbs-White is still Forest’s danger man. Although he hasn’t had quite as good of a season as last year, the attacking midfielder still has three goals and four assists to his name from midfield. Those aren’t horrific numbers for a team battling against relegation.

Score Prediction

I think Liverpool will have just enough to get over the line, but it will be a pretty tight affair. With the impressive form of Caoimhin Kelleher, Virgil van Dijk and Ibou Konate, I can’t see Forest scoring in all honesty. Therefore, I back Liverpool to wrap up a pretty solid result in the end.

Nottingham Forest 0-2 Liverpool