Nottingham Forest Seek Historic Win at Anfield Against Liverpool
Nottingham Forest head to Anfield chasing a slice of history – and bringing with them the one thing Liverpool do not enjoy seeing on their own turf: a growing sense of belonging.
Forest have never won three league games in a row at Anfield. Not in any era, under any manager. Do it on Sunday, and this side will have achieved something Brian Clough’s great teams never managed.
Standing in their way is a Liverpool team still finding its shape and nerve under Andoni Iraola.
Iraola’s Liverpool: High tempo, soft underbelly
Iraola’s Premier League debut at St James’ Park ended with a roar. A last-gasp equaliser salvaged a point and some pride. The 90 minutes in between, though, exposed exactly where this Liverpool team can be hurt.
They dominated the ball – 61% possession, 27 shots to Newcastle’s 13 – yet looked alarmingly vulnerable whenever the game stretched.
Anthony Elanga’s opener for Newcastle told the story. Ten seconds from winning the ball in their own box to the ball nestling in Alisson’s net. One direct break, one clean finish.
The second goal was even more damning. Malick Thiaw snapped into a challenge, won possession, and 12 seconds later Joe Willock was steering the ball past Alisson with authority. Two punches landed before Liverpool’s defence had even set its feet.
Those goals pushed Liverpool’s total of strikes conceded from fast breaks in all competitions since the start of last season to nine – more than any other Premier League side. For a team that wants to play on the front foot, that is a glaring red flag.
Now Iraola walks out at Anfield for his first competitive home game with a proud record to defend. Liverpool have not lost their opening league fixture of a season at home since 2003. Seventeen wins, five draws, 22 games of setting the tone.
That streak now comes under pressure from a club that, suddenly, does not fear the famous old ground at all.
Forest’s Anfield habit
For more than half a century, Anfield was a graveyard for Nottingham Forest ambitions. No win there in any competition since 1969. Then, in the space of a few months, everything changed.
A 1-0 victory in September 2024 ended the long wait. A 3-0 hammering last November turned it from a one-off shock into a pattern. Forest didn’t just edge Liverpool. They silenced them, then swept them aside.
Since Forest returned to the Premier League in 2022, no team has beaten Liverpool in the league more often. Forest have three wins in that period – more than any other side can claim against the Reds.
That statistic hangs over this fixture. It is no longer Liverpool welcoming a plucky visitor. It is Liverpool hosting a problem they have yet to solve.
Glasner’s reality check and the Delap gamble
Like Iraola, Oliver Glasner is still trying to bend a new squad to his ideas. The early signs have been bruising.
Leeds United, under Daniel Farke, have already become an unwanted reference point. Two meetings in four days, two defeats for Forest, no goals scored. The second, in the League Cup on Tuesday, left Glasner sounding flat and brutally honest.
He reminded everyone of the context: nine months spent locked in a relegation fight, the loss of what he called “maybe your top midfielder” in Elliot Anderson, and only six weeks of work with this group. No shortcuts, no quick fixes.
“The reality is no magician, no Messiah, it’s just hard work. This is what we have to do,” he said. No sugar-coating, no excuses.
That realism has been reflected in his selections. Forest’s opening league game last Saturday featured no new signings in the starting XI, a quiet summer by their recent standards laid bare on the teamsheet.
Now comes the spark they hope can change the mood.
Liam Delap, signed for a club-record £50m, walks into a dressing room that badly needs a focal point and a fresh storyline. His recent numbers are stark: one goal in 28 league games during a frustrating stint at Stamford Bridge. This move is about rebooting a career as much as it is about boosting Forest’s attack.
He will be desperate to prove he is more than that statistic. Anfield, under the lights and noise, is the kind of stage that can flip a narrative in 90 minutes.
Goals on the road, questions at the back
If Forest need belief, they can find it in their away form in front of goal. They have scored in each of their last 10 Premier League away matches, the longest current scoring run on the road in the division. Fifteen goals in their last five away league games underline that this is not a cautious, low-risk travelling side.
That record collides head-on with Liverpool’s weakness against fast transitions. Forest have pace, they have confidence away from home, and they know exactly what it feels like to walk off Anfield with three points.
Liverpool, meanwhile, are trying to launch a new era without losing the aura that has protected this fixture for two decades.
One team chasing a historic hat-trick of wins at Anfield. The other trying to prove that St James’ Park was a warning, not a blueprint.
Something has to give.
