Feelings will be mixed within both sets of supporters as Nottingham Forest and Liverpool shared the spoils at the City Ground on Tuesday evening. Forest took the lead through Chris Wood in the eighth minute, and the Reds drew level through Diogo Jota in the 66th, immediately after the Portugal international stepped onto the pitch from the bench.
The teams
With few squad problems, both managers named their arguably strongest lineups to start.
Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo was only without midfielder Ibrahim Sangare. Mats Sels was in goal, with Jesus Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic forming the centre-back partnership. Former Liverpool fullback Neco Williams played on the left, while Ola Aina covered the right defensive flanks. Ryan Yates and Elliot Anderson provided muscle in the middle of the park, while the pace of wingers Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga, complemented by the skill of Morgan Gibbs-White in the No. 10 role, gave striker Wood plenty of support.
As for Liverpool, head coach Arne Slot wasn’t able to call upon defender Joe Gomez through injury and striker Darwin Nunez through suspension. With Alisson Becker between the posts, Virgil van Dijk had Ibrahima Konate by his side in the heart of defence, flanked by Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson. Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister were the midfield duo, with Dominik Szoboszlai roaming futher up. Mohamed Salah attacked from the right, Cody Gakpo from the right, and Luis Diaz played in what has now become his usual role, the ‘false nine’.
Forest start strong
As expected, Liverpool had no problems in dominating possession, but they found it extremely difficult to break through the tightly packed lines of the home side. Their initiative repeatedly came to nothing for a long time, and when the first opportunity arose for Forest to hit back, they made it count.
As Hudson-Odoi picked the ball up and sent it to Elanga, Wood took advantage of Konate’s poor positioning and pealed to the left. Elanga swiftly found his striker, and with Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold unable to close ranks quickly enough, Wood fired low past Alisson to send his team ahead. It was the 13th league goal of the season for the Forest striker, and he now shares fourth place in the scoring chart with Newcastle’s Alexander Isak and Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo.
Frustration quickly engulfed the Premier League leaders after going down. Forest players frequently increased that feeling with hard, physical play in the middle of the park, which referee Chris Kavanagh allowed. Anger was occasionally visible on the faces of Szoboszlai, Salah and Gakpo, as they felt they had suffered fouls which weren’t given. With focus gone, Liverpool’s passing became erratic and the game mostly flowed exactly the way Espirito Santo and his team wanted it to.
Liverpool fight back
It certainly wasn’t the first time Liverpool conceded first, and their power to respond has been proven many times. It was clear straight after the break that their aggression levels rose. It soon matched that of Forest, and it was now their turn to benefit from Kavanagh’s criteria allowing hard challenges in the middle of the park. However, they still found it hard to create chances, and by the 66th minute, when Diogo Jota and Kostas Tsimikas stepped off the bench, they hadn’t hit the target even once.
It was a rather interesting double substitution from Slot. There was nothing surprising in Tsimikas replacing Robertson on the left defensive flank, but eyebrows will have been raised when defender Konate made way for forward Jota. And withing a few seconds, the changes made by the Liverpool boss yielded results.
The substitutions took place after a corner from the right side was awarded to the visitors. Tsimikas went straight over to take it and recorded an assist with his first touch, as Jota’s first touch sent the ball in the back of the net. It was actually a trademark goal from the Portuguese attacker, who somehow managed to use that little bit of space between the towering figures of Murillo and Milenkovic to nod home from close range.
Having finally scored against Nottingham Forest, Liverpool now pushed on hard in search of a victory, but in a very uncharacteristic manner, Salah wasted several very good chances while Sels in the Forest goal made a number of superb saves, and the scoreline remained unchanged until the end.
The rankings
Liverpool still top the Premier League table, with 47 points from 20 matches. Chelsea and Manchester City both dropped points this weekend, against Bournemouth and Brentford, respectively, and Arsenal’s widely acknowledged status as the only competition to Liverpool for the title has become more pronounced. Forest shouldn’t be forgotten either, currently in second place with 41 points from 21 games, but the Gunners will have a chance to overtake them and reduce the gap to Liverpool to just four points by beating neighbours Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby on Sunday.
But even then, Liverpool will still have a game in hand, with the postponed Merseyside Derby against Everton scheduled for February 12th. Slot and his team are obviously still in a very good position to equal Manchester United’s record of 20 league titles, but having drawn twice in a row now, they will need to get back to winning ways when they host Ipswich Town next week. Before that, Liverpool will face LOSC Lille in the Champions League.
Like Liverpool, Forest shouldn’t have too much difficulty in taking all the points from their next league game, when Southampton come to the City Ground next week. At this point in the season, their fans will find it hard to believe their eyes when they look at the table, but Esprito Santo and his players certainly deserve to be where they are.
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