Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool Prediction

Liverpool are heavily fancied by the Opta supercomputer to take three points in the Premier League on Tuesday, but Nottingham Forest are flying high. Look ahead to the game at the City Ground with our Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool prediction and preview.

Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool Stats: The Key Insights

• The Opta supercomputer rates Liverpool as the favourites with a 53.8% win probability to Forest’s 23%.
• Forest are looking for a first league double over Liverpool in 62 years.
• Mohamed Salah has scored 16 of his 18 Premier League goals in the second half of games this season.

Few would have looked at the fixture list back in August and predicted this January clash between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool would have ramifications in the Premier League title race.

There was enough uncertainty as it was over a Liverpool side beginning a new era under Arne Slot after Jürgen Klopp’s departure, but the league leaders are flourishing under the Dutchman.

However, far more unlikely was Forest’s rise to potential Champions League or title contenders, and Nuno Espírito Santo’s men – who sit third – can move within three points of Liverpool with victory at the City Ground. The visitors will still retain a game in hand, though.

Forest are simply flying right now and have won six straight Premier League matches. A win against Slot’s charges would see them equal their longest ever winning league run of seven, a feat they have achieved on four previous occasions (February 1893, December 1906, October 1921, and September 1979).

With five wins from their past six home top-flight matches (L1), Forest have bettered their tally from the previous 21 at the City Ground (W4, D7, L10). Another victory here would see them rack up four straight home league triumphs within the same top-flight season for the first time since January 1996.

A stoic defence has been key to Forest’s unlikely title challenge and Matz Sels has recorded nine Premier League clean sheets this season, more than any other goalkeeper. Indeed, Mark Crossley is the only Forest goalkeeper to have kept more in a single campaign in the competition (13 in 1994-95).

If Forest do manage to take the victory here, it would mark just the third occasion that both of a team’s first two defeats of a Premier League season have come against the same opponent, with Liverpool having been beaten by Forest back in September. Manchester United against Chelsea (1993-94) and Newcastle United against Liverpool (2022-23) are the only such other times such a scenario has occurred.

The Reds have been fantastic on the road this season, going unbeaten in their nine away Premier League matches (W7, D2). Only in 1987-88 (first 15), 2018-19 (10) and 2019-20 (13) have they managed a longer unbeaten stretch on their travels from the start of a top-flight campaign.

Liverpool have scored at least twice in each of their past 12 Premier League games, their second-longest such run having tallied 15 consecutively between March and September 2019.

Mohamed Salah has been typically influential for Liverpool and 16 of his 18 Premier League goals this season have come in the second half of games. Only the Egyptian superstar himself has managed more after half-time in a single campaign for the Reds (18 in 2017-18).

Teammate Cody Gakpo is also a man in form, though, with the Netherlands international netting in three straight Premier League games – the longest run of his career in the competition. He is looking to join a list of seven Dutch players to have scored in at least four successive Premier League appearances. The most recent of which was Crysencio Summerville in November 2022, while Dirk Kuyt also managed it for Liverpool (a run of five, ending in May 2011).

Forest welcomed back Danilo from injury in the FA Cup victory over Luton Town, while Ibrahim Sangaré is also close to a return. Liverpool are still without the injured Joe Gomez, while Darwin Núñez is suspended for the trip to Nottingham.

Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool Head-to-Head

Any notion that this is a foregone conclusion should be swept directly under the carpet, especially considering Forest won the reverse fixture 1-0 at Anfield back in September.

That means the Tricky Trees can complete the league double over Liverpool for the first time since the 1962-63 campaign should they emerge victorious.

Liverpool did come away with the victory in a 1-0 triumph of their own in this exact same fixture last season.

However, prior to that they had endured a 13-game winless away run in the league against Forest (D7, L6).

Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool Prediction

Liverpool are heavy favourites with the supercomputer to get the better of their rivals, with a 53.8% win probability out of the 10,000 simulations conducted.

However, it’s not exactly a gimme, with Forest given a 23% chance of victory. The draw occurred on 23.2% of occasions.

In terms of the season overall, Liverpool now have a whopping 89.6% probability of being named champions come the end of the season.

By contrast, Forest are still only given a 0.1% chance of lifting the title and currently are most likely to finish fifth (22%).

Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool Predicted Lineups

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 13,000 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 on Tuesday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

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