ANGOL PREMIER LEAGUE
ROUND 25
NOTTINGHAM FOREST–LIVERPOOL FC 0–1 (0–0)
NottinghamCity Ground, 29 603 viewer. Led by: P. Tierney
NOTTINGHAM: Sels – N. Williams, Omobamidele, Murillo, Toffolo – N. Domínguez (Danilo, 79.), Yates – Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi – Origi (Awoniyi, 64.). Manager: Nuno Espírito Santo
LIVERPOOL: Kelleher – Bradley (Cimikasz, 84), Konaté, Van Dijk, Robertson (Endo, 60) – Mac Allister, J. Gomez, Clark (Núnez, 60) – Elliott (Szoboszlai, 76), Gakpo (Danns, 84.), Luis Díaz. Manager: Jürgen Klopp
Scorer: Nunez (90+9.)
A TOTAL OF EIGHT BEK/BL WINS met on Saturday afternoon at the City Ground, even though Liverpool are still far from their previous glories, let alone the host Nottingham Forest. It is no coincidence that, in addition to the Hungarian sports public, the Liverpool team was more concerned with the fact that three key players in the team decimated by injuries – Dominik Szoboszlai, Darwin Núnez and Endo Vataru – were able to return to the squad, although they all started on the bench.
Divock Origi also received special attention, who scored a last-minute winning goal against Everton in the Premier League in 2018 as a Liverpool player, and in 2019 decided the CL final against Tottenham once and for all with a late goal, but now Forest stormed Kelleher’s goal in his colors.
It’s a fact that the Belgian attacker showed himself to be agile in the very first minute, but the momentum of the match quickly waned, and for the first more than twenty minutes he was practically spinning in one place in the midfield.
In the 25th minute, Elanga came out alone from Van Dijk, who failed to set up an ambush, and was only facing the goalkeeper when he shot the ball from ten meters, but Kelleher made a great save with his feet.
The shock shook Liverpool, who first responded with Clark’s shot flying over the crossbar, and then Murillo made a huge save from Luis Díaz, who was trying to score, in a scuffle in front of the goal.
Shortly after the turn, Robertson, returning from illness, received a free ball from the Forest defense but was so surprised that he missed the rebound.
Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool’s manager, intervened in the match for the first time after an hour of play and sent Núnez and Endo to battle among the returning players, but kept Szoboszlai on the bench for the time being. The Uruguayan striker somewhat livened up the visitors’ attacking game, but at the middle of the half, the Liverpool team had Elanga again to thank for not falling behind – the Swedish striker’s shot from inside the penalty area narrowly missed the right post.
In the 76th minute, Klopp stepped in again and finally brought it in Dominik Szoboszlaiot, who replaced Elliott in the midfield – the Hungarian legionnaire has not played since the league game against Chelsea on January 31 due to a hamstring injury. In the time available, Szoboszlai had a long shot, after which the ball bounced off Hudson-Odoi’s back and into the corner.
When it seemed that it would be a tie, after a corner from Szoboszlai on the right, Forest did not release properly, Mac Allister sent the ball back to the penalty area, jumping the highest in the field Nunez and headed Liverpool’s winning goal into the bottom right corner. 0–1
A bit of interest: after nearly 40 years, Pool won again as a guest of Nottingham in a league match: on October 28, 1984, the team from the Mersey side won 2-0, since then they have only managed to win away from home once, in an FA Cup meeting.
Nunez scored at the best time (Photo: AFP)THE JOB
M
Gy
D
V
L–K
Gk
P
1. Liverpool
27
19
6
2
64–25
+39
63
2. Manchester City
26
18
5
3
59–26
+33
59
3. Arsenal
26
18
4
4
62–23
+39
58
4. Aston Villa
26
16
4
6
56–35
+21
52
5. Tottenham
26
15
5
6
55–39
+16
50
6. Manchester United
26
14
2
10
36–36
0
44
7. West Ham
27
12
6
9
43–47
–4
42
8. Newcastle
27
12
4
11
57–45
+12
40
9. Brighton
27
10
9
8
49–44
+5
39
10. Wolverhampton
27
11
5
11
40–43
–3
38
11. Chelsea
26
10
6
10
44–43
+1
36
12. Fulham
27
10
5
12
39–42
–3
35
13. Bournemouth
25
7
7
11
33–47
–14
28
14. Crystal Palace
27
7
7
13
32–47
–15
28
15. Brentford
27
7
5
15
39–50
–11
26
16. Everton
27
8
7
12
29–37
–8
25
17. Nottingham Forest
27
6
6
15
34–49
–15
24
18. Luton Town
25
5
5
15
35–51
–16
20
19. Burnley
26
3
4
19
25–58
–33
13
20. Sheffield United
26
3
4
19
22–66
–44
13
Deductions: Everton 6 points