Liverpool 3-2 Nottingham Forest: Klopp's side move up to seventh

Liverpool 3-2 Nottingham Forest: Jurgen Klopp’s side move up to seventh after Diogo Jota’s brace and Mohamed Salah’s winner piling yet more pressure on under-fire boss Steve Cooper

• Jurgen Klopp’s side overcame Nottingham Forest after pulsating second period
• Liverpool toiled for large parts of first half but Diogo Jota ensured breakthrough
• Nottingham Forest twice equalised but could not find the third goal  

Jurgen Klopp’s arms were whirring like the blades of helicopter, the message behind the gesture obvious as the seconds ticked down.

Liverpool were leading but Klopp wasn’t exactly radiating the confidence of a manager who felt his side were primed to see out the job. So he screeched and he hollered and gestured: get back! Get back! And, ultimately, the message got through.

It was, however, a close run thing. Liverpool’s defence had spent 45 minutes bearing gifts to Nottingham Forest and they almost left the door open enough for Steve Cooper’s gallant team to exploit and boost their hopes of staying up.

Poor Cooper will be frustrated that scoring twice at Anfield got no reward but, when he starts to examine why he, too, won’t have to look too far. Forest were masters of their own downfall, presenting Liverpool three chances to score that they were never going to squander.

Forest remain in the bottom three and time is not on their side. They will find it difficult to stay up if they continue to be so porous; the forwards of Chelsea, Arsenal and Brighton will be rubbing their hands in the way that Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah did in a madcap second period.

Liverpool moved up to seventh with victory over Nottingham Forest at Anfield on Saturday

Mohamed Salah scored the winner as Liverpool kept up their unlikely pursuit of Champions League football

Jurgen Klopp willed his team on as they defended desperately by the end to hold onto their lead

Match facts 

Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Jones; Salah, Gakpo, Jota

Subs: Kelleher (GK), Gomez, Thiago, Milner, Elliott, Tsimikas, Diaz, Nunez, Matip

Goals: Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah 

Nottingham Forest XI: Navas; Felipe, Niakhate, McKenna; Williams, Mangala, Freuler, Danilo; Gibbs-White, Awoniyi

Subs: Hennessey (GK), Worrall, Lingard, Toffolo, Surridge, Johnson, Dennis, Ayew, Hammond

Goals: Neco Williams, Morgan Gibbs-White

Booked: Neco Williams 

Jota, who had gone 372 days without scoring, plundered another double to go with brace at Elland Road last Monday while Salah moved level with Robbie Fowler in the list of Liverpool’s record scorers with what proved to be the decisive strike.

This win keeps Liverpool in the hunt to qualify for the Europa League but Klopp will know better than anyone that if the standards of defending that were on show for a large chunk of the afternoon persist, they will find themselves on the outside looking in.

It said everything for the way the game had been played that Liverpool had 86 per cent of the possession at the interval but, as ever, the only statistic that really matters is the amount of goals a team scores: and, here, they went in all-square.

That, primarily, was down to Liverpool huffing and puffing. They only created three chances of note, for all that they were on the ball – Jota headed into the side-netting, Virgil van Dijk had a header tipped over and Williams cleared a Cody Gakpo header off the line.

Forest, who were full of determination and well organised, had a moment of their own when van Dijk got his angles wrong and presented the ball to Morgan Gibbs-White but the England Under-21 international’s shot was tame and Alisson Becker was able to gather comfortably.

All very sedate, then. If only we knew what was coming.

The second half was riotously entertaining, one of those games you get at this time of year when convention goes out of the window. Neutrals would have loved the frenzy but the disbelieving scowls on the faces of Klopp and Cooper told you what the professionals thought.

Jota started it all off, arriving through a cluster of yellow shirts to apply a headed finishing touch to a flick on from Fabinho after Trent Alexander-Arnold had fizzed in a corner. With an advantage and their tails up, it should have been a procession – it was anything but.

Neco Williams equalised minutes after Diogo Jota had given Liverpool the lead 

Forest showed fight but their defensive frailties told again – conceding three avoidable goals

Nottingham Forest twice equalised – the second through Morgan Gibbs-White – but could not find a third

Lax defending by Nottingham Forest allowing Salah one of the easier goals of his Liverpool career

Steve Cooper’s side are in serious danger of going straight back down to the Championship

Forest equalised within two minutes, when Williams dashed the full length of the pitch to finish an attack via a deflection off Andy Robertson; once of this parish, the Wales international refused to celebrate but he was the only one not overjoyed.

Those cheers, lamentably, were quickly silenced. Another defensive mistake allowed Jota to stroll onto a free-kick and turn a shot past Keylor Navas. Surely this was going to be Liverpool home and hosed? No. Again, more confusion at the back allowed Morgan Gibbs-White to level.

This should have been the catalyst for Forest to get a precious point but another needlessly conceded free-kick ended up with Salah rifling in from six yards. Klopp wasn’t in the mood to party – it’s been that kind of season.

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