Nottingham Forest Aim for Historic Win at Anfield
Nottingham Forest head to Anfield chasing a slice of club history: a third straight league win at Liverpool’s home, something they have never done before. The setting could hardly be more intriguing.
Iraola’s Liverpool still wide open
Andoni Iraola’s Premier League debut in the Liverpool dugout ended with late drama and a point at St James’ Park, but the 2-2 draw with Newcastle also exposed just how vulnerable his new side can be.
Liverpool dominated the ball, seeing 61% of possession and racking up 27 shots to Newcastle’s 13. On paper, that reads like control. On the pitch, it often looked anything but. Newcastle repeatedly sliced through them with direct, rapid counters that left the Reds scrambling.
Anthony Elanga’s opener told the story. Newcastle won the ball in their own box and, 10 seconds later, it was in Liverpool’s net. Their second was just as ruthless: Malick Thiaw snapped into a challenge, Joe Willock finished past Alisson 12 seconds after the turnover.
Those two moments pushed Liverpool to an unwanted landmark: since the start of last season, no Premier League team has conceded more goals from fast breaks in all competitions. They have now shipped nine.
Now Iraola walks out at Anfield for the first time in a competitive game, defending a record that has stood for more than two decades. Liverpool have not lost their opening home league fixture of a season since 2003, winning 17 and drawing five of the 22 such matches since.
That streak faces a very specific kind of threat.
Forest, the unlikely Anfield specialists
For decades, Anfield was a graveyard for Nottingham Forest hopes. From 1969 onwards, they could not buy a win there in any competition.
Then came September 2024. A 1-0 away victory broke the hoodoo. Two months later, Forest returned and tore Liverpool apart 3-0. In the space of one autumn, Anfield went from fortress to favourite hunting ground.
Since Forest returned to the top flight in 2022, no one has beaten Liverpool in the league more often than they have. Three wins over the Reds in that period – more than any other side – is a remarkable line on their recent record.
Now they arrive again, chasing a hat-trick of league victories at Anfield and carrying the belief that this place no longer intimidates them.
Glasner’s reality check and Delap’s chance
Like Liverpool, Forest are also learning the demands of a new manager. Oliver Glasner is still trying to bend the squad to his ideas, and the early signs have been bruising.
Leeds United, under Daniel Farke, have already handed Forest back-to-back defeats in the space of four days, knocking them out of the League Cup and leaving them goalless across the two games. The mood after Tuesday’s cup loss was flat, and Glasner did not sugar-coat the situation.
He pointed to the hangover of “nine months of relegation battle”, the loss of key midfielder Elliot Anderson, and the fact he has been in the job only six weeks. No quick fixes, no miracles, just “hard work” as he put it. That is the message he wants everyone around the club to absorb.
The summer window underlined that sense of reset. By Forest’s recent standards it was quiet, and Glasner did not name a single new signing in his starting XI for their league opener.
That changes with Liam Delap. The £50m club-record signing arrives with a point to prove after a difficult spell at Stamford Bridge, where he scored just once in 28 league appearances. For a striker once tipped for the top, this move feels like a reboot.
His presence alone should jolt the dressing room. A powerful, mobile forward desperate to reignite his career, walking into a team that already carries a threat away from home.
Forest have scored in each of their last 10 Premier League away games – the longest current run in the division. They have hit 15 goals in their last five league matches on the road. Whatever their issues, they travel with goals in them.
So Liverpool, porous on the break and still adjusting to Iraola’s demands, face a side that knows how to hurt them, knows how to score away, and no longer fears Anfield.
If Forest turn that into a third straight league win here, does Anfield’s aura shift for good?
