Nottingham Forest hosts Liverpool in the 27th round of the Premier League. The home team is in seventeenth place, just four points above the threat of relegation. The visitors are much better off, they are the leaders of the table with twelve rounds to go.
Nottingham Forest needed extra time to win over Blackpool in the third round of the FA Cup before beating Bristol City in the fourth round. However, he managed to reach the round of 16, where he was stopped by Manchester United in the week, who won 1:0 after Casemiro’s goal and advanced to the quarterfinals. With the Wembley dream dashed in midweek, the Tricky Trees can at least focus purely on fighting for Premier League survival.
However, the last time coach Nuno Espirito Santo’s men suffered a 2:4 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa. Due to Everton’s points deduction being reduced from 10 to 6 points, Forest have dropped to 17th place in the table, just four points ahead of Luton Town, who have also played a game less.
Double-figure absences forced Liverpool to field a selection of academy talent in their FA Cup round of 16 tie against Southampton, so they surprisingly had plenty to do against Saints, but a Lewis Koumas strike and two goals from Jayden Danns sent the Reds into the quarter-finals, where they face Forest’s Manchester City United.
Coach Klopp likened his emerging heroes to 17-year-old darts prodigy Luke Littler, his beaming smile telling as Liverpool’s emerging talent put the Saints on their shoulders as the Reds cruised to a fifth win in all competitions before returning to the Premier League, having beaten Chelsea in League Cup final 1-0 after extra time thanks to Virgil van Dijk’s goal.
A 4-1 demolition of Luton on February 21 in their last top-flight fixture ensured Liverpool now have 60 points from 26 games in the 2023-24 season, keeping them one point ahead of Manchester City and two ahead of Arsenal . However, the Reds must break a long-standing curse if they are to retain top spot beyond this round, as while they cruised to a 3-0 triumph against Nottingham at Anfield in October, they have failed to win any of their last 13 away games against Garibaldi, including six in the league, which is club record against one opponent.
Nottingham Forest – probable line-up:
Sels – Williams, Niakhate, Murillo, Toffolo – Danilo, Dominguez – Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi – Awoniyi.
Liverpool FC – probable line-up:
Kelleher – Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson – Elliott, Gomez, Mac Allister – Gakpo, Danns, Diaz.
Tipsport odds: 5.71 – 4.76 – 1.55
Tip EuroFotbal.cz: 2