Forest stun Liverpool to move off bottom

Forest stun Liverpool to move off bottom

Second-half strike gives Midlands side just their second win of the season

Liverpool’s Curtis Jones pursues Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White in the clubs’ Premier League match at the City Ground in West Bridgford on Saturday.
Liverpool’s Curtis Jones pursues Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White in the clubs’ Premier League match at the City Ground in West Bridgford on Saturday.

NOTTINGHAM, England: Nottingham Forest stunned Liverpool as Taiwo Awoniyi sealed a 1-0 win with a second-half goal to lift the Midlands club off the bottom of the Premier League table on Saturday.

A below-par Liverpool, seeking a third consecutive league win, could have few complaints as Forest produced a superb performance to earn their second win of the season.

Juergen Klopp’s side were off the pace in the first half as a disciplined Forest side knocked them out of their rhythm.

Forest went ahead in the 55th minute when Awoniyi poached a rebound after his initial effort struck the post.

The hosts were dangerous on the counter-attack and had several chances to give themselves some breathing space.

But they were indebted to keeper Dean Henderson who made a series of saves, the best coming in stoppage time when he somehow kept out a sensational close-range header by Virgil van Dijk from a corner.

Forest held on and moved to 19th place with nine points from 12 games, one ahead of Leicester City. A third league defeat of the season leaves Liverpool still in seventh place, 11 points adrift of leaders Arsenal and having played a game more.

Klopp was left scratching his head after the match, saying Liverpool wasted several gilt-edged chances.

Van Dijk was one of the worst culprits, squandering two great opportunities in addition to having his header in stoppage time saved by Henderson.

“The performance I can kind of explain, the result not to be honest. I never saw a game where one team has four or five no-brainers from a set piece where we have to finish it off,” Klopp said. “We had to put the game to bed to be perfectly honest.”

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT