Nottingham Forest Aim for Historic Win at Anfield

Nottingham Forest head to Anfield chasing a slice of history: a third straight league win on Liverpool’s turf, something they have never managed before. The numbers say this is Anfield. Recent memory tells a different story.

Iraola’s Liverpool still wide open

Andoni Iraola’s Premier League debut in the Liverpool dugout ended with relief and adrenaline at St James’ Park. A last-gasp equaliser salvaged a point. It also exposed a problem he cannot ignore.

Liverpool dominated the ball against Newcastle, seeing 61% of possession and firing off 27 shots to the hosts’ 13. On paper, that is control. On the pitch, it often looked like chaos whenever Newcastle broke.

The first goal told the tale. Anthony Elanga scored just 10 seconds after Newcastle had won the ball inside their own box. The second was just as brutal: 12 seconds from Malick Thiaw pinching possession to Joe Willock rolling his finish past Alisson.

Two attacks. Twenty-two seconds. Two goals.

Those moments pushed Liverpool to an unwanted mark: nine goals conceded from fast breaks in all competitions since the start of last season, more than any other Premier League side. For a club that built its recent identity on a ferocious counter-press, that statistic stings.

Now Iraola walks out at Anfield for his first competitive home game with another record to protect. Liverpool have not lost their opening league match of a season at home since 2003. Across 22 such fixtures, they have taken 17 wins and five draws.

That proud run meets a Forest side that has stopped being overawed by the famous old place.

Forest’s Anfield habit

For decades, Anfield was a graveyard for Nottingham Forest ambitions. From 1969 to 2024, they did not win there in any competition. Then the dam burst.

A 1-0 win in September 2024 broke the hoodoo. A 3-0 hammering last November underlined that it was no fluke. Since Forest returned to the Premier League in 2022, no club has beaten Liverpool in the league more often than they have. Three wins, all of them stinging reminders that reputation no longer guarantees safety.

Forest arrive with that knowledge in their back pocket. They also arrive with their own questions.

Glasner’s reality check and the Delap gamble

Like Liverpool, Forest are adapting to a new voice on the touchline. Oliver Glasner has barely had six weeks with this squad and has already run into an early wall.

Leeds United, under Daniel Farke, hit Forest twice in four days, dishing out back-to-back defeats without Glasner’s side scoring once. The second of those, in the League Cup on Tuesday, left the Austrian sounding as blunt as he looked.

He pointed to the context: nine months of relegation battle last season, the loss of key midfielder Elliot Anderson, and the short time he has had with the players. No quick fixes. No miracles. Just work.

The club’s recent transfer windows have often been frantic. This one was quieter, and that was reflected in Glasner’s first league line-up of the campaign: not a single new signing in his starting XI.

That changes with Liam Delap.

The £50m striker arrives as a club-record signing and a reclamation project. His spell at Stamford Bridge yielded just one league goal in 28 appearances, a frustrating stretch that stalled the momentum of a highly rated talent. Forest are betting that a new environment and regular minutes can spark him back into life. He will be desperate to prove them right, and quickly.

If Delap needs encouragement, he will find it in Forest’s recent away form in front of goal. They have scored in each of their last 10 Premier League away matches, the longest active run in the division. Fifteen goals in their last five on the road underline a team that does not travel timidly.

So Anfield gets a familiar visitor with a growing sense of belonging, and a Liverpool side still working out how to shut the back door. One fortress record will be on the line. Another, in Forest’s heads, already feels like it has been breached.