Liverpool’s mini-revival came to a crashing halt with a 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest, who secured just their second Premier League win for 23 years thanks to Taiwo Awoniyi’s goal.
Awoniyi spent six years as a Liverpool player without ever making an appearance as he was farmed out on a series of loan spells, but came back to haunt his former club and move his current employers off the bottom of the table.
Dejected Liverpool players Fabinho (left), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jordan Henderson (right) at The City Ground in Nottingham
“To score against Liverpool is a day I will never forget,” said Awoniyi. “I will always be grateful to Liverpool for scouting me from Nigeria and scoring against them is amazing.” Liverpool were without the firepower of the injured Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz and it showed as they lacked the spark needed to unlock a deep-lying Forest defence.
Unexpected result
“The performance I can kind of explain, the result not to be honest,” said Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp. “We arrived with consistency but we had six games with a limited squad playing three high intense games. That’s how it is, we cannot change that and we have to fight through. For us today we have to win here and we didn’t, so credit to Nottingham.” A third league defeat of the season leaves Liverpool still in seventh, 11 points adrift of leaders Arsenal having played a game more.
Read more: Jurgen Klopp wants Liverpool to be unpredictable against Arsenal
Victory over Manchester City last weekend, followed by another 1-0 win against West Ham in midweek had seemingly given Klopp’s men lift-off after a slow start to the campaign. But with Thiago Alcantara also missing due to illness, they did not have enough in reserve even to see off a side without a win since August.
Patient with Cooper
Forest have stayed patient with manager Steve Cooper, even handing the former Swansea boss a new contract, as he tries to bed in a record 23 new signings in one transfer window for a Premier League team.
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