Nottingham Forest produced a shock to beat Liverpool 1-0 in the Premier League 2022-23 on Saturday. The last-place team at the start of the day secured only their second win of the season in the game at the City Ground. (More Football News)
Taiwo Awoniyi struck in the 55th-minute to end Liverpool’s mini-revival, which saw it beat Rangers, Manchester City and West Ham in its previous three games.
Awoniyi was on the books at Anfield for six years without ever playing for the first team, but he produced the decisive moment to lift Forest off the foot of the table.
“To score against Liverpool is a day I will never forget,” he told BBC Sport. “I will always to be grateful to Liverpool for scouting me from Nigeria and scoring against them is amazing.” The win eases the pressure on Forest manager Steve Cooper, who also used to coach at Liverpool.
“This is not the end, this has got to be a part of the start,” Cooper said. “We get back in on Monday and work even harder. We’ve been on a difficult run but, I told the boys, I’ve not seen them hide, shy away or sulk. I’ve seen the opposite. That’s given me reassurance.”
Forest took the lead 10 minutes into the second half when a free-kick found Steve Cook on the right-hand side. His cross was struck against the post by Ryan Yates, but Awoniyi was on hand to turn the rebound into an empty net.
Morgan Gibbs-White then saw another effort blocked by James Milner, which would have doubled the home team’s lead. Liverpool’s fight back saw Forest goalkeeper Dean Henderson palm away a Trent Alexander-Arnold header in the final 10 minutes.
In return, Alisson denied Yates late on before Henderson stopped a powerful header from Virgil van Dijk to secure the famous win. Liverpool were without the injured Darwin Nunez and Thiago Alcantara, who was unwell.
“The performance I can kind of explain, the result not to be honest,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp told BT Sport. “I never saw a game where one team has four or five no-brainers from a set piece where we have to finish it off.
“The way they defend we were perfectly prepared for that. We had to put the game to bed to be perfectly honest.
