Forest beats Liverpool to give Slot reality check
Callum Hudson-Odoi's goal gave Nottingham Forest its first league victory at Anfield in 55 years and ended Liverpool's perfect start to life under Arne Slot in the Premier League.
Substitute Hudson-Odoi scored the only goal of the game after 72 minutes, capping a lightning Forest counter-attack with a curling strike that deflected in off Ibrahima Konate.
Liverpool had earlier gone close through Luis Diaz as he struck the base of the post in the first half, but it struggled to pose Nuno Espirito Santo's men too many problems in a flat display.
The defeat, which comes after impressive shutout victories over Ipswich Town, Brentford and Manchester United, means Liverpool has lost early ground on Manchester City, which now boasts a three-point lead at the top of the table.
Forest, meanwhile, remains unbeaten in 2024-2025 and moved up into fourth place with eight points, just one behind its opponent, which stays second.
Luis Diaz had the first real chance of the match when he rattled the post after 16 minutes, dispossessing Ryan Yates at the byline before cutting inside from the left and seeing his shot bounce clear off the woodwork.
Matz Sels almost caused Forest's undoing just before half-time as he spilled Diaz's looping header, but it was his team-mate Hudson-Odoi who got the eventual winner.
Cutting inside from the left, he bent an effort towards the far corner, with a deflection off Konate carrying it out of Alisson's reach to condemn Liverpool to defeat.
Slot slammed his side after the match, clearly furious at the effort from his side.
"The result frustrates me the most and we cannot be happy about how the game went. It was a stop-start game and we hardly created any chances," he said.
"We only have to look at ourselves, we have to be better. Far too many times we lost the ball around the area, it was not good enough. We have to be better with the ball.
"Our decisions and execution weren't good enough.
"In general, we defended quite well but the two fast players came on and made it difficult for us. We took a lot of risks and in the end it was a very good goal."
For Nuno, delight was the main emotion.
"Liverpool are such a good team, it required a lot of effort from the players, the organisation, tackling and the covering," he said.
"The only way to achieve anything here is if you are organised and do everything that you can.
"When you start the way we started with our wingers, Nico Dominguez and Elliot Anderson – all the effort of them tracking Liverpool's full-backs, it is a lot of energy.
"We are working hard and it is about building and believing in this idea that you can develop."
It is the first time Nottingham Forest has won away at Liverpool in the league since winning 2-0 against Bill Shankly's side in 1969.
It is also the first time Forest manager Nuno has achieved Premier League victory against Liverpool, having lost his previous seven meetings with the Reds.
