Liverpool’s defence of their Premier League crown hit a new low as Nottingham Forest stunned them 3-0 at Anfield, condemning Arne Slot’s side to their sixth defeat in seven league games. Goals from Murillo, Nicolò Savona and Morgan Gibbs-White sealed a famous victory for Forest, who moved out of the relegation zone with back-to-back wins under Sean Dyche.
The reigning champions began brightly, with Alexis Mac Allister and Milos Kerkez both going close, but Forest struck first through Murillo’s controversial opener from a corner. VAR ruled that Dan Ndoye was not interfering with play despite standing in front of Alisson, leaving Liverpool furious. The Reds have now conceded nine goals from set pieces this season, equalling their total from the entirety of last term.
Forest doubled their lead just 39 seconds into the second half when Savona finished calmly from Neco Williams’ cut-back. Slot’s changes failed to spark a comeback, and Gibbs-White added a third to continue his scoring streak, netting in three consecutive Premier League games for the first time in his career.
The defeat was historic: Forest became only the fourth visiting side to win at Anfield by three or more goals, joining Chelsea (2005), West Ham (2015) and Manchester City (2021). Liverpool, meanwhile, have lost back-to-back league games by such margins for the first time since April 1965 under Bill Shankly.
Opta data underlined the scale of the collapse. Liverpool have now lost six of their opening 12 league matches for only the second time, after 2014-15. They are also just the fourth defending champion to suffer six or more defeats in their first 12 games, following Blackburn (1995-96), Chelsea (2015-16) and Leicester (2016-17).
Forest’s resurgence under Dyche has been remarkable, while Liverpool’s fall from grace has been swift and severe. Slot’s side now sit in the bottom half of the table, their title defence in tatters, and will hope this marks the lowest point of their season.
