Key events
Alexis Mac Allister speaks to Sky: “Mixed feelings to be honest. I think it’s a really good day, but then on the other hand, I don’t think we played very well. so there’s plenty of things that we need to improve, but it’s always nicer when you win.
“It did [hit my elbow], but I feel like this is a bit harsh because it has hit my back as well. So it’s a bit of both and some the rules are just think that in football. That’s very harsh but I think it was a fair decision.
“I thought I was going to get another one. Even before the throw in, I told Hugo that this was going to be our goal, our situation. And after that, I don’t know if he was on that one or the next one, but I had another opportunity and yeah, glad that they went in.”
The eventual winner looked offside but the tech said otherwise. There may be more to come on that, perhaps from the Forest boardroom.
That late goal took some heat off Mohamed Salah but…
Ian Copestake: “I lost alot of respect for Mo after his public assessment of bus routes, so am not surprised he expresses his usual displeasure at being rightly subbed.”
Morgan Blake: “I’m dreading another Salah tantrum. It seems like he’s always angry at being taken off, and never angry at himself for being rubbish.”
Justin Kavanagh: “Mo Salah looks like he is just using this part of the season to keep fit between his more important assignments for The Pharoahs, the Africa Cup of Nations and the King Donald Trump World Cup.”
Sunday’s 2pm full-time scores:
There’s a thousand-yard stare from Vitor Pereira as his coaches discuss where it all went wrong. The truth is Forest didn’t see it out. Liverpool’s players are delighted, with Ibrahima Konate whelping in delight.
Full-time: Nottingham Forest 0-1 Liverpool
VAR lightning didn’t strike twice for Alexis Mac Allister. What late drama in a game that was going nowhere. Nottingham Forest will rue a first half where they could not score. Liverpool were poor until they brought on Rio Ngumoha.
90+8 min: There’s a VAR check. A long look. Aina had played Van Dijk onside. Pereira is incandescent with rage. Mac Allister has his goal. Didn’t even need his backside to break his duck.
Goal! Nottingham Forest 0-1 Liverpool (Mac Allister 90+7)
A long throw chance for Joe Gomez. The ball comes out, Szoboszlai’s ball in, Van Dijk’s header and Mac Allister bundles in after Ortega knocks it out…
90+5 min: Mac Allister has not scored all season, waiting for one off his backside, and when he did, it was denied by VAR.
90+3 min: Some confusion over how many minutes have been added on. Nobody knows anything. Think seven minutes were added. Sangare has a dig from distance. And why not?
90+1 min: That would have been the weirdest goal of the season. But the rules dictate that cannot stand. The roar from the Forest fans was so loud as Anthony Taylor, briefly, became the darling of West Bridgford.
Goal ruled out! Still 0-0!
90 min: But here’s VAR. Did the ball strike the arm? Yes, it did. The elbow. So no goal.
Goal! Nottingham Forest 0-1 Liverpool (Mac Allister, 89)
Oh lordy. Where did that come from from? Ngumoha forces the ball in, and then Ekitike heads at Ortega, a fine save, and as Aina tries to clear, Mac Allister challenges and the ball balloons in. Bizarre….
88 min: Lucca nods the corner back but Ndoye’s shot is blocked. Instead, Liverpool try to attack and Chiesa is squeezed off. Gomez can launch another long throw. Forest deal well enough with that.
87 min: Gomez knocks behind as Ndoye chases a ball across the penalty area. Forest win a corner, and then another in quick succession.
86 min: Oof! Close! The closest. Alisson mishandles a ball from Ndoye, and it drops to Gibbs-White. His shot grubs off the floor and then Sangare smashes wide.
85 min: Liverpool in Forest territory and Ortega flicks away a Gomez throw flicked on by Van Dijk. Forest more penned in now, looking to the counterattack.
83 min: Feels like a while since any actual football was played here. Andy Robertson is coming on for Liverpool, for Kerkez, who has done OK. Joe Gomez comes on for Curtis Jones to sit in the Spinal Tap drummer’s stool.
81 min: Kevin McManus gets in touch: “When Ekitike is having an off day like today our forward line is innocuous. We love Salah for everything he has done for us but there has been a massive drop-off since latter part of last season. Gakpo baffles me. Apparently the data says differently but I have never seen what he brings. Going to need a header from Virgil or another screamer from Dominik.”
That’s about the size of it..
80 min: Latest score: Sunderland 1-2 Fulham (Enzo La Fee)
A goal here feels unlikely. Both teams not finding it, instead they are grinding it.
78 min: Forest changes: Anderson for Dominguez, Jesus for Lucca.
Liverpool changes: Salah goes off, it’s been a miserable afternoon, as does Gakpo, and on come Chiesa and Ngumoha. Salah was not happy at all. Slot cannot have been happy with him.
75 min: Les Lagan gets in touch: “I always thought Stanley Park – quite a large field – was in the Anfield Road area.”
Is a park a field? Answers on a postcard to…
Rod Wooden gets in touch: “John, for me the player that Liverpool have missed most this season is Luis Díaz, who never seems to be mentioned in this particular discussion. Maybe I’m only saying this because I live in Colombia, but their attack this season has lost its sparkle, and he provided it.”
David Wall enters the chat: “Perhaps it’s a sign that we need more critical thinking taught in schools but i don’t understand why Slot having won with a team built by Klopp is a criticism of Slot. After all, Klopp didn’t win with that same team, he could only manage them to third. So if Slot achieved more with the same resources that implies he’s out-performed Klopp.
“Perhaps you can argue that team building is also part of managing, and to an extent that’s true. But the main skill in management is making the best use of your resources, whatever they happen to be That’s why the manager-of-the-year awards don’t always go to the manager of the champions but sometimes to the manager of the team that has most out-performed what would be expected given their budget. And in that respect Slot did better than Klopp comparing them over the previous two seasons.”
73 min: Forest are sat deep as Liverpool attempt to thread passes. This is where Wirtz might come in handy. As it is, he’s sat in the stand having missed out with an as yet unspecified problem.
71 min: Salah goes on a run, bumps into Williams and then gives up on the ball. That was not good. That was not the Salah we have known for so long.
70 min: Konate is penalised for smashing into Jesus. Then Jesus is penalised for fouling the same player. It’s bitty, but at last opens up, and Bakwa has space and time. Too much, it turns out, and he drags his shot wide.
68 min: It’s ebbing away, this game. Feels like one goal wins it, though the defences are very much on top.
66 min: An ironic smile on the face of Mohamed Salah, after he gets no change from a clash with Neco Williams.
Two Forest changes: Ndoye on for Hudson-Odoi while Hutchinson is replaced by Bakwa.
64 min: Aina’s cross briefly looks as if it might end up in the net, but drifts over to Liverpool’s relief.
Latest score: Sunderland 0-2 Fulham (Raul Jimenez)
Jimenez scored in the earlier game this season between the team. What a job Marco Silva is doing, by the way.
63 min: Slot still looks annoyed on the sideline. Vitor Pereira is in perpetual motion. This game is fully in the balance.
61 min: News from Crystal Palace, where Ladislav Krejci of Wolves has been red-carded for a second yellow. It’s still 0-0.
59 min: Liverpool now pressing high, too. Forest getting far less time on the ball.l
Latest score: Sunderland 0-1 Fulham (Jimenez, 54)
58 min: Much better from Liverpool who are now controlling possession in the manner that would be expected. The game has slowed down a little, too, which may be to Arne Slot’s tastes.
57 min: On second glance that’s a fine save from Ortega, and made harder by the outbreak of actual sun in the Nottingham area.
55 min: Salah does well to direct the ball back to Jones and Ortega is asked to make a snap save.