Preview: Nottingham Forest vs. Liverpool
Liverpool look to make it a perfect week at a ground where they haven’t won
NOTTINGHAM FOREST VS. LIVERPOOL
| Saturday, March 2nd |
Premier League | City Ground
3PM GMT/10AM EST
Nuno Espírito Santo’s rotated side was incredibly unlucky to lose late on against Manchester United in the FA Cup midweek, and will come into Saturday’s match needing a win in the league.
Last season Nottingham Forest won this fixture with Taiwo Awoniyi scoring the winner, though Nuno himself has lost all seven games facing a Jürgen Klopp side. For his part, Awoniyi has a decent record this season, having been directly involved in 15 goals in his last 19 Premier League matches (12G 3A).
Forest have an admirable recent record against the Reds: they have never lost a game at home to Liverpool in the Premier League, specifically.
Chris Wood, Ibrahim Sangare and Willy Boly could return for Forest, while Ola Aina and Nuno Tavares remain unavailable.
Anthony Elanga and Neco Williams will be a challenge down the Liverpool left wing, so the Andy Robertson v Kostas Tsimikas (or Joe Gomez) availability will be one to watch out for.
Forest have been in better form under Nuno when compared to their outright struggles at the end of Steve Cooper’s tenure, winning three of their last nine to equal the win tally they’d previously managed in a run of 17 games.
Though Forest come into this game just outside of the relegation zone on 17th with 24 points, three of their four home wins have come against top eight sides (Aston Villa, Manchester United, and West Ham). Equally, though, Liverpool are unbeaten in all 15 of their matches against teams in the bottom half, dropping points only away at Chelsea and Luton Town.
Predicted Liverpool Lineup (4-3-3)
Kelleher; Bradley, Konaté, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Clark; Elliott, Gakpo, Díaz
Dominic Szoboszlai and Darwin Núñez ae back in full training and available to feature in the squad this weekend, while Wataru Endō and Andy Robertson are training and being monitored, with Endō recovering from a knock he got in the final and Robertson coming back from injury. Mohamed Salah, however, will miss out due to muscle fatigue, joining the nine other players out.
Jürgen Klopp clarified that the other rotation against Southampton was with an eye on managing minutes and “time sharing” rather than out of any injury concerns. The Liverpool manager was cautious, though, as apparently the illness affected both Alexis Mac Allister and Robertson, and could of course spread elsewhere.
This location is a challenge: The City Ground is the only venue in the Premier League where the Reds have played more than once and failed to win a game (D3 L3); Klopp’s Reds will thus hope to earn their first win on Saturday.
Liverpool will be managing minutes ahead of another busy week, but will come to the City Ground looking for a win. The likes of Núñez, Szoboszlai, Endō, and Robertson will be managed as they come back from spells out of training, while many others — Harvey Elliott and Luis Díaz most notably — will be managed in terms of minutes after putting in serious minutes over the last two games.
Whatever lineup the boss goes with, expect an eye on 60 minutes and changes.
What the Managers Had to Say
Jurgen Klopp: “It will be a tough, tough challenge, that is 100 per cent clear. You could see Newcastle, Aston Villa and even Arsenal, it was not easy for any of them. That’s clear, not only with but especially with the counter-attacking threat they are, it’s massive with [Taiwo] Awoyni, [Anthony] Elanga, [Morgan] Gibbs-White and Hudson-Odoi or Divock [Origi] or stuff like this. That speed, they can be direct, they set it up a little bit like that. Protection is massive for us, that if we try to control the game we have to make sure we really control that part of the game as well.”
Nuno: “It will require a lot of effort from us but we have to keep this idea of playing and going forward no matter what opponent we have because that’s what our team needs.”
The Officials
Referee: Paul Tierney Assistants: Richard West, Scott Ledger Fourth official: Graham Scott VAR: Stuart Attwell Assistant VAR: Constantine Hatzidakis
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