NOTTINGHAM FOREST VS. LIVERPOOL
| Sunday, February 22nd |
Premier League | City Ground
2:00PM BST/9:00AM EST
Nottingham Forest have a new manager and a shiny 3-0 Europa League victory against Fenerbahce as the wind at their back when Liverpool travel to City Ground on Sunday. Vitor Pereira replaced Sean Dyche at the helm to help them drag themselves out of the relegation zone. They now sit in 17th place, three points above West Ham. Every point matters for them moving forward as they play for their Premier League lives.
Liverpool, meanwhile, moved onto the FA Cup quarterfinal last weekend when they beat Brighton 3-0. Their performances have been patchy, but steadily improving lately. What has to improve is the scoreline this time compared to the last match-up against Nottingham Forest at Anfield. There the guests beat the Reds 3-0 (what’s with that scoreline?) in November at the height of Liverpool’s biggest slump of the season.
Liverpool have had a full week to rest up, while Forest are living that Europa League life and will be recovering from a Thursday night visit to Turkey. If they do want to change their luck, Arne Slot’s men will have to do it without Alexander Isak, Wataru Endo, and Conor Bradley, who are all out for the foreseeable future.
While Liverpool’s FA Cup and Champions League runs have been going well, they’ve fallen into sixth place in the Premier League, now 16 points behind current leaders Arsenal. While it seems unlikely that they will retain their league title in May, gaining a sure Champions League spot in the top four is very much still on the table. And if Arsenal continue their traditional spring collapse, then third — or maybe even second — could be achievable.
Of course, all of this is a moot point if Liverpool can’t pull themselves together and find the consistency that made them champions last season under Slot. With players like Mohamed Salah, Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz, and Dominik Szoboszlai at his disposal, defeating a jetlagged Forest shouldn’t be hard, even away from home, but that’s not how things have worked this season.
Predicted Liverpool Lineup (4-2-3-1)
Alisson; Jones, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo; Ekitike
As mentioned, Isak, Endo, and Bradley are all out, along with Giovanni Leoni. Could Szoboszlai or Joe Gomez play at right-back instead of Curtis Jones? Neither would be surprising, but Jones did well in the spot against Brighton last weekend, so I’ll keep him there. Does the trio supporting Ekitike look different, perhaps with Szoboszlai slotting in to replace Cody Gakpo?
As for Forest, they continue to be without Willy Boly, Chris Wood, John Victor, Nicolo Savona, and Matz Sels.
The Managers Have Their Say
Arne Slot: “Back then, it was Dyche’s third or fourth game. That makes it a little bit more difficult. We only have tonight [Forest’s Europa League match at Fenerbahce] to see if this new manager changes personnel. The good thing is they have that game, and the manager was in the Premier League last season.”
Vitor Pereira: “A tough game against the previous champions in England, but as I say to my players, we need to play with our tools, we need to play with our identity. We need to create identity, it must be what we like and believe.”
The Officials
Referee: Anthony Taylor. Assistant Referee #1: Gary Beswick. Assistant Referee #2: Adam Nunn. Fourth Official: Dean Whitestone. VAR: Paul Tierney. VAR Assistant: Adrian Holmes
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