Liverpool face a vital trip to Nottingham Forest and Arne Slot will be keen to avenge the Anfield defeat as his side aim to rediscover their form in the Premier League.
Nottingham Forest vs. Liverpool
Premier League (20) | City Ground
January 14, 2025 | 8pm (GMT)
After two domestic cup games, with mixed success, it is back to Premier League action for Liverpool as they meet a confident Forest side who will smell an opportunity to take points.
Slot’s side have not been in their stride of late but Tuesday presents the next chance to add three points and maintain the gap at the top.
Here are 10 things you need to know ahead of the clash.
1. Only 2 missing for Liverpool
Thanks to rest and rotation over the weekend, the Reds will head into this match with plenty of fresh legs and just two absentees.
Joe Gomez (hamstring) is still sidelined and Slot expects that to remain the case for the foreseeable having explained the defender is “quite far” from marking his return.
Darwin Nunez is the only other absentee due to a one-match suspension after reaching the threshold for five yellow cards in the first half of the season – he can return at Brentford.
A strong squad to face Forest then, we’ll need it!
2. This is a Forest side in form
Slot previously said himself that this is a club that is “normally not ending up in the top 10” in the Premier League, but plenty will be reconsidering that after Forest’s incredible start.
They sit six points behind the Reds in third, behind Arsenal only on goal difference, and have won their last seven games in all competitions.
In that run, they have conceded just three times, with their last five all finishing with a clean sheet. They are evidently full of confidence.
Forest sit at the top of the form table for the last eight league games, picking up 21 points compared to next best Liverpool (18).
3. One big call to make in Reds’ XI
After resting seven players entirely from the matchday squad in the FA Cup win over Accrington Stanley and leaving a further three unused, you sense Slot’s side will be quite predictable.
The usual suspects will return and that includes the likes of Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz.
Having confirmed he is to be without only two senior options, the biggest decision will be whether Dominik Szoboszlai or Curtis Jones starts in midfield.
With Szoboszlai playing just 45 minutes as a reintroduction on the weekend after three games out, you expect him to return after a couple of iffy outings from Jones.
Predicted Reds XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister; Salah, Gakpo, Diaz
4. Forest will have a fresh XI
Forest made 11 changes for their FA Cup win over the weekend and thus there will be no concerns for them over any fatigue heading into this match.
Danilo marked his return from a long-term ankle injury off the bench as they progressed to the fourth round, leaving only Ibrahim Sangare on their injury list.
Nuno insisted on the eve of the game that he has no “major issues” in his squad and Slot can, therefore, prepare with that in mind.
Chris Wood (12 goals) is the obvious danger man upfront while Morgan Gibbs-White is proving to be influential with four goals and three assists.
Predicted Forest XI: Sels; Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Dominguez, Anderson; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood
5. No more suspension threat…for now
As Liverpool reached the halfway point of the season against Man United, the yellow card suspension threshold has now been reset by the Premier League.
It means no players are at immediate risk of suspension, with the number of cautions now lifted to 10 bookings from matchday 20.
Any player booked 10 times in the first 32 games of the season will be banned for two fixtures, regardless of whether or not they have already served a ban for five cautions.
Nunez, as abovementioned, could not avoid a caution against United and is the third and final player to serve a ban for reaching five yellow cards in 2024/25.
6. Forest identify the key battles
We will not be short on key matchups on Tuesday evening and in chat with Forest fan and podcaster Matt Davies, we got the insight into where they think the match will be won and lost:
“I would say the main ones are Neco Williams vs. Salah, Callum Hudson-Odoi vs. Alexander-Arnold and Gibbs-White vs. Gravenberch.
“At Anfield, Alex Moreno was brilliant against Salah, who has been the best player in the league by a mile all season.
“Williams has been fantastic at left-back since coming into the team, but this is a huge challenge.
“Forest fans will be hoping Trent plays like he did against United, while Gibbs-White has been brilliant finding space in midfield to run at defences.”
• READ: “Unbelievable” Forest but former Red faces “huge” Salah challenge
7. “Not such a shock result as I thought”
Slot has not been able to let go of the 1-0 defeat to Forest at Anfield earlier this season, understandably, but admits their form does allow him to look at the result differently:
“In general, I think every time Liverpool loses a home game it is something we don’t expect.
“I think in that moment of time I also saw a stat that Virgil played 100 home games for Liverpool and only lost once, so for us to lose on that day was, for me, hard to take, as you probably experienced.
“Now looking back at it and seeing where they are in the league, it’s not such a shock result as I thought it was back then.”
Let’s just not let them get one over on us twice in one season, eh?
8. Did you know?
Since October 1984, Liverpool have scored more than once in a visit to the City Ground on only two occasions – in January 1990 and April 1999.
That makes for two goals in a game just twice in the last 15 visits. If you already felt this one was going to be nervy, we really haven’t helped, have we?
We do have some good news, though, the Reds have scored two or more goals in 12 consecutive league games – it is their best since a run of 15 from March–September 2019.
9. Kavanagh in the middle
Chris Kavanagh has been appointed to take charge of this fixture, it is his second Reds game of the season following on from the 2-0 win over Man City.
He took charge of Liverpool’s 3-0 home win over Forest last season and he sent off James Ward-Prowse in the hosts’ 1-1 draw at Chelsea earlier this campaign.
The Reds have won 16 of the 21 games he has overseen, with no sending-offs in our direction.
Stuart Burt and James Mainwaring are his assistants at the City Ground while John Busby acts as fourth official. John Brooks, who we have history with, is lead VAR.
10. How to watch and follow along with TIA!
Liverpool’s trip to Nottingham Forest will be shown live on TNT Sports 1 for those of you in the UK, with coverage starting from 6.30pm (GMT).
If you fancy a more entertaining and biased look at proceedings, you can follow along with our live blog! Harry McMullen will be at the helm from 7.15pm to keep you up to date!
Into these, Reds.
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