Nottingham Forest stun Liverpool with Awoniyi’s goal

Former Liverpool striker Taiwo Awoniyi was the Nottingham Forest hero as their season came to life with a famous 1-0 victory over the Reds.

Forest started the day rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table, but a second-half strike from Awoniyi was enough to earn them a famous win. It could have been more for Forest without the heroics of Alisson Becker, with an out of sorts Mohamed Salah unable to carry Liverpool ’s much-changed attacking setup.

And when they needed a stop from Dean Henderson, Forest got it. The Manchester United loanee made a pair of close-range blocks to deny Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk.

The result lifts Forest into 19th and above local rivals Leicester City. Meanwhile, Liverpool’s recent resurgence was halted as their early-season inconsistencies reared their head again. Here are the talking points from a raucous City Ground.

Awoniyi spent six years at Anfield, but failed to make a single competitive appearance in that time. That was despite Klopp being a notable admirer of the forward.

The Liverpool boss told him that after an impressive loan spell in Union Berlin, it was the right step for his career to go there permanently. A year later, Awoniyi was back in English football with Forest.

He has yet to truly deliver this season, but it was written in the stars that his best performance in the Garibaldi would come against his former side. He gave Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez a torrid afternoon and it was a case of right place, right time for his goal.

Awoniyi opted to not celebrate his goal in front of the bouncing Trent End, but few would have forgiven him a little smile.

Jurgen Klopp is never shy when it comes to criticising the unrelenting nature of top-flight football. This was Liverpool’s seventh game in three weeks and the impact of the fixture pile-up has been clear to see.

The Reds were forced to line-up without any of Thiago Alcantara, Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez, with all four regulars nursing injuries of differing severity. That meant youngsters Fabio Carvalho and Harvey Elliott were both thrown in from the start.

And although every side up and down the country is struggling with injuries, the importance of those not available was particularly difficult for Liverpool. It doesn’t get any easier either, they still have six more games before the season breaks on November 12.