We look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League game at Anfield with our Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest prediction and preview. Will a former Everton manager upset the Reds?
Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest: The Key Stats
Liverpool defeated Nottingham Forest in 71.1% of the Opta supercomputer’s pre-game simulations.
Nottingham Forest were one of only two teams who took four points from the Reds in their 2024-25 title-winning campaign.
Morgan Gibbs-White could become just the fourth player to score 20+ Premier League goals for Forest.
The last time Liverpool faced Nottingham Forest, the teams were first and third respectively in the Premier League table. Last January feels like a very long time ago for both clubs.
They start the matchday eighth and 19th respectively, markedly below where either of them would’ve expected to be after the November international break when the season got underway. This is the latest into a season that Liverpool have started a match this low down in the standings since April 2023. They won 3-2 at home to Forest that day, as chance would have it.
PL Table MD 11
The Reds are in worse form this time around though. They have lost five of their last six Premier League games (W1), more than they lost in the whole of their title-winning campaign last season (four). Before this run, the Reds had only lost five of their previous 49 league fixtures (33 of which were won). It has been a slump of epic proportions.
Can Liverpool Improve?
It’s only fair to put their struggles into context, though. Most of Liverpool’s problems have occurred on the road. They have won four of their five league matches at Anfield in 2025-26, with two victories from two in the UEFA Champions League. Even in the exception, a 2-1 loss to Manchester United, Arne Slot’s side won the expected goal count by 2.75 to 1.34. If a little more rickety than in the recent past, Anfield largely remains a fortress.
The defeat to United was the Reds’ only loss in their last 22 home league games, a run that includes 17 wins. This streak began following the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest in September 2024, so can the visitors pull off an unlikely victory for the second season running?
Much will depend on the strength of the team Sean Dyche is able to field. Callum Hudson-Odoi (who scored the winner in this fixture last season), Chris Wood and Oleksandr Zinchenko are reportedly close to returning, though Ola Aina and Douglas Luiz won’t be involved.
One of Forest’s key men in recent weeks has been Morgan Gibbs-White. He scored in both of Forest’s last two Premier League games and could score in three successive league appearances for the first time in his career. The England international is one goal away from becoming the fourth player to score 20+ Premier League goals for the Tricky Trees, after Wood (37), Bryan Roy (24), and Stan Collymore (22).
Morgan Gibbs-White Goals for Nottingham Forest - Premier League
Gibbs-White’s recent contributions helped Forest score as many goals in their three Premier League games under Dyche (five) as they had in their first eight of the season under Nuno Espírito Santo (four) and Ange Postecoglou (one). They are also averaging more shots-per-game (13.0) and xG-per-game (1.6) under Dyche than they were under either of his predecessors in 2025-26.
A win at Anfield remains a tall order, even with this improvement. Nottingham Forest have lost their last six Premier League away games against the reigning champions by an aggregate score of 24-2.
Forest are also one of four sides yet to win away from home in the Premier League this season, along with Fulham, Newcastle and Wolves. They lost their last two away league games without scoring, last losing three in a row without a goal in October 2022.
As for the hosts’ team news, Jeremie Frimpong and Giovanni Leoni won’t take part, but Alisson Becker could be ready to resume action.
One man who will surely be involved is Mohamed Salah. Assuming he plays, the Egyptian King will become the fifth man to make 300 Premier League appearances for the Reds.
Based on the average Opta rating of each club’s forthcoming opponents, Liverpool have the easiest next eight games in the Premier League. As forlorn as their title hopes look now, a win here could kickstart a resurgence over a favourable looking stretch of fixtures.
Premier League fixture difficulty next eight games 2
Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest Head-to-Head
Nottingham Forest won 1-0 away and drew 1-1 at home against Liverpool in the Premier League last season, with Fulham the only other club that took as many as four points from the champions in 2024-25.
However, Forest have not gone three league games without defeat against the Reds since February 1993. You must look back a further 30 years to find the last example of Liverpool losing consecutive home league games against them.
Their 1-0 loss in this fixture last season was the only league game of the campaign in which the Reds failed to find the net. Liverpool scored three times in the two other Anfield meetings following Forest’s last promotion, winning 3-2 in April 2023 and 3-0 six months later.
Liverpool 0-1 Nottingham Forest Stats 2024-25
Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest Prediction
The Opta supercomputer’s predictive credentials will be questioned if this match ends up in anything other than a home win.
Liverpool won 71.1% of the 10,000 pre-match simulations. Nottingham Forest have just a 12.4% chance of repeating their Anfield victory from last season, with the remaining 16.5% allotted to a draw.
Does the supercomputer know that the Reds might struggle to deal with Dyche’s direct football though?
Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest Prediction
Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest Predicted Lineups
Liverpool: Giorgi Mamardashvili, Conor Bradley, Ibrahima Konaté, Virgil van Dijk, Milos Kerkez, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo, Hugo Ekitiké.
Head coach: Arne Slot
Nottingham Forest: Matz Sels, Nicolò Savona, Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo, Neco Williams, Ibrahim Sangaré, Elliot Anderson, Morgan Gibbs-White, Dan Ndoye, Nicolás Domínguez, Igor Jesus.
Head coach: Sean Dyche
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 15,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off this weekend at Anfield, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
Premier League Stats Opta
Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over onX, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.******