Liverpool shrug off Díaz’s absence to sweep aside Nottingham Forest

Luis Díaz occupied the thoughts of everyone at Liverpool following news of his parents’ kidnapping in Colombia while Jürgen Klopp’s professional, commanding team maintained their winning streak at Anfield in his absence. Nottingham Forest were dismissed with ease as Liverpool made it eight wins from eight home matches in all competitions this season.

Díaz was understandably omitted from the match-day squad amid his on-going family ordeal. His replacement, Diogo Jota, started the victory with his fifth goal of the campaign before goals from Darwin Núñez and Mohamed Salah provided a more accurate reflection of Liverpool’s superiority. Cody Gakpo thought he had made it four in injury time but was denied by a VAR review for offside.

Liverpool came up against a deep defensive block for the second Premier League home game in succession and, just like the Merseyside derby, struggled to break down their opponents until capitalising on a centre-half’s mistake. But the hosts were supremely comfortable in possession prior to the opening goal, revelling in their command of Forest and patient in the knowledge their time would come.

The visitors were set up in a 5-4-1 formation by Steve Cooper and, whether by accident or design, showed little inclination to venture forward in numbers. The approach must have been draining for attack-minded players such as Morgan Gibbs-White, Nicolás Domínguez and Anthony Elanga but was vindicated by Forest’s carelessness in possession on the few occasions they did have it. Both first-half goals stemmed from Forest losing the ball in the Liverpool half and being instantly carved open before they had a chance to regroup.

Liverpool’s breakthrough arrived when Murillo, who had started well on the left of Forest’s three-man central defence, got carried away attempting to dribble through the home midfield. His run was inevitably halted by Alexis Mac Allister, who enjoyed another quietly impressive game in the holding midfield role and released Salah on the counter-attack. Forest were exposed for the first time, outnumbered three v two, and though Matt Turner parried Núñez’s angled drive from Salah’s pass the rebound fell kindly for Jota to convert.

Jota had been called into the team in place of Díaz and celebrated by sprinting to the Liverpool bench to collect his teammate’s number seven shirt, which he paraded to all four sides of the stadium. There was another considerate, classy touch shown before kick off from the Forest fans, who displayed a banner that read: “Respect the 97 – solidarity with survivors – no to tragedy chanting” for the second season running at Anfield.

Cooper’s game-plan had to alter once Forest fell behind but they were caught out for a second time minutes after Jota’s opener. After a visiting attack broke down on the edge of the Liverpool area Jota sparked another devastating counter when finding Dominik Szoboszlai in space in midfield. The Hungary international exchanged passes with Salah, who released Szoboszlai to the by-line with a brilliantly disguised ball. Núñez volleyed the midfielder’s first time cross into the roof of the net from close range, and Liverpool were comfortably on course for another home win.

Turner parried long-range shots from Ryan Gravenberch and Szoboszlai in quick succession as Liverpool pressed for a third before the break. It was a risky strategy from the American goalkeeper, especially as he kept parrying shots back into the danger zone, but a bigger calamity awaited him in a more subdued second half.

Turner sprinted out his area in an attempt to intercept a searching long ball from Szoboszlai but completely misread the flight. He had no need to rush out as substitute Harry Toffolo was back covering but the ball sailed over Turner and left Salah with an open goal for his latest slice of Liverpool history. Salah rolled home the gift to become only the third Liverpool player to score in the opening five home league games of a season, following Harry Chambers in 1922 and John Aldridge in 1987.

Forest did carry more of a threat after the interval, they couldn’t have carried less of one in truth, but Domínguez failed to connect with a Gibbs-White cross in front of goal and Elanga sent a volley crashing against the crossbar from Ryan Yates’ centre.