Arne Slot. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Liverpool’s Premier League title defence slid deeper into crisis after a disastrous 3-0 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest, while Manchester City also stumbled in the title chase with a 2-1 loss at Newcastle.
A sixth league defeat of the season leaves last year’s runaway champions languishing in 11th place, eight points behind leaders Arsenal and having played a game more.
Under-fire Liverpool manager Arne Slot said he could “never come up with enough excuses” to explain his team’s slump.
“That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that,” Slot said, after goals from Murillo, Nicolo Savona and Morgan Gibbs-White floored the home side and extended Liverpool’s nightmare run to six losses in their past seven league matches.
“How bad, that is difficult to measure but it was very bad,” said Slot. “Playing at home, losing 3-0 no matter which team you face is a very, very bad result.”
Liverpool only lost four times last season on their way to equalling a record 20th title.
Former Arsenal player Martin Keown, speaking on BBC, said: “Whether it’s a crisis, I don’t know.
“It’s certainly a major problem for the manager to go six defeats from seven. Unthinkable.
“The wheels are coming off now for Arne Slot.
“It was Jurgen Klopp’s team and he has tried to come in and make changes, but he has spent £450m on players and they are going backwards.”
Arsenal, not in action until Monday’s (AEDT) North London derby against Spurs, were the big winners of the day as two of their major rivals failed to close the gap.
City lost as Harvey Barnes struck twice at St James’ Park to hand Newcastle a much-needed boost and inflict a fourth defeat of the campaign on Pep Guardiola’s side.
Chelsea are shaping as the key threat to Arsenal, and moved within three points of the Gunners with a composed 2-0 win at Burnley.
Crystal Palace and Brighton both continued their strong starts, while Fulham and Bournemouth also collected valuable points in a dramatic day of Premier League action.
Liverpool’s latest defeat came with a touch of grim symmetry. Forest, who won at Anfield last season, repeated the feat and climbed out of the relegation zone in the process. It also marked consecutive wins for Forest for the first time this season, with the club already on its third manager following the sackings of Nuno Espirito Santo and Ange Postecoglou.
Liverpool’s defence of their crown began to unravel months ago and now looks beyond repair. The Reds have won only once in the league since 20 September and were flattered by the margin, with Forest having a first-half Igor Jesus strike ruled out for handball before pressing home their advantage.
Murillo opened the scoring on 33 minutes with a crisp finish inside the area and Savona doubled the lead immediately after half-time. Gibbs-White killed the contest with 12 minutes remaining to leave Anfield stunned.
Not even the return of Alisson in goal or a first start in a month for British record signing Alexander Isak could shift the trajectory. Isak was replaced after 68 minutes and has now gone six matches without a goal since scoring against Southampton in September.
“Everyone is disappointed, like they should be, because losing at home against Nottingham Forest is, in my eyes, very bad,” Virgil van Dijk said. “That is the least I can say about it.”
Manchester City arrived in the north east with the chance to go within a point of Arsenal after a statement win over Liverpool before the international break. Instead, they were exposed by a Newcastle side desperate to halt their own slide.
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Newcastle sink Manchester City as Pep Guardiola’s men fail to go second.
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Barnes had already missed several chances before he drilled Newcastle ahead on 63 minutes. Ruben Dias equalised shortly after but Barnes hit again seven minutes later, flicking home the winner and leaving Guardiola’s side four points off top spot, having played a game more.
Chelsea kept up the pressure with a third straight win. Pedro Neto’s header midway through the first half put the visitors in control before Enzo Fernandez sealed the result late on. Burnley’s defeat dropped them back into the relegation zone.
West Ham, who climbed out of the bottom three, threw away a 2-0 lead at Bournemouth. Callum Wilson’s double had the Hammers cruising at the break, only for Marcus Tavernier’s penalty and an Enes Unal strike to rescue a point for the home side.
Crystal Palace moved up to fourth after defeating winless Wolves, with Daniel Munoz and Yeremy Pino scoring in quick succession in Rob Edwards’ first match in charge of the bottom club.
Brighton sit fifth after recovering from a goal down against Brentford, with Danny Welbeck scoring his seventh goal in eight games to continue his resurgence. Fulham collected only their second win in seven matches thanks to Raul Jimenez, who scored in the 84th minute to beat Sunderland.