Liverpool vs. Nottingham Forest: Premier League 2025-26 Preview & Team News

| Saturday, November 22nd |Premier League | Anfield3PM BST/10AM EST

Liverpool could have done with playing Nottingham Forest anytime in the past few months prior to when they’ve got them, as a Sean Dyche Forest coming off a win and with an international break to prepare is not the same animal as the struggling outfit we’d seen earlier in the season. Forest are 19th and they have managed just 11 points thus far this season, but four of those points came in their last two matches (two home games: a draw against Manchester United and a win against Leeds).

Forest had not been playing well, but that was under Ange Postecoglou (and, further back, Nuno Espirito Santo); Sean Dyche is a different kind of manager, and since arriving in October her’s made his Forest side quite a bit harder to play against. Indeed, they’ve scored as many goals in these past three games under Dyche (5) than they had under either previous manager (it took them eight games to score just four goals under Nuno, and a shocking one goal scored in the same period under Big Ange).

The headline, though, is that Dyche is likely missing seven players for Saturday’s afternoon kick-off: not the situation he’d like to find himself in. Ola Aina, Dilane Bakwa, Aaron Bott, Angus Gunn, Douglas Luiz, Chris Wood, and Oleksandr Zinchenko are all likely absentees, with Callum Hudson-Odoi the only previously injured Forest player likely to make his return against the Reds. Of these, Chris Wood is obviously a key name, as the New Zealand international causes problems for many, and is one of only two Forest players to have scored more than one goal this season.

Unfortunately for the Reds, the other player who has scored multiple is fit and firing, and achieved his form recently: Morgan Gibbs-White has scored in the last two games, and will look to score in three in a row for the first time in his career. Elsewhere in the Forest attack, the returning Hudson-Odoi is no stranger to scoring against Liverpool, however, and did so in last season’s deeply regrettable 1-0 win at Anfield. (Remember that Liverpool failed to beat Forest last season, drawing the away fixture with goals from Chris Wood and Diogo Jota.)

Forest are one of just four sides yet to register an away win this season, alongside Fulham, Newcastle, and Wolves. This would be comforting if it weren’t for the Dyche of it all.

Predicted Liverpool Lineup (4-3-3)

Alisson; Szoboszlai, Konaté, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Jones, Mac Allister; Salah, Ekitiké, Gakpo

Forest are not the only team with notable absentees, as both Conor Bradley and Florian Wirtz picked up muscle injuries while on international duty and will be unavailable for Saturday — and Bradley is looking at a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Since Jeremie Frimpong remains unavailable, we’re likely to see Dominik Szoboszlai at right back, though Joe Gomez is also an available option. On the bright side, Alisson may make his return, though Arne Slot could not confirm this before Friday’s training session. Alexander Isak may also return, though his match fitness is an issue once again: he didn’t get many minutes for Sweden. Andy Robertson did not train on Thursday, but this was for “private reasons” rather than any fitness issue, and the Scottish captain will have returned to training today.

Liverpool need to win this one, and though recent form has been a major issue it is perhaps notable that the Reds have won all but one of their five matches at Anfield thus far this season (and we will not be talking about that loss, thanks). Of course, it also must be noted that the last loss at Anfield in the last 22 other than the one we won’t be mentioning did come at the hands of Nottingham Forest, which put a damper in Arne Slot’s flying start as Liverpool manager. Here’s hoping this match can prove to be the opposite vibe shift.

Should Mohamed Salah feature for the Reds it will be his 300th appearance, and he’ll become just the fifth Liverpool player to achieve that number. As he comes into this match level with Wayne Rooney for one-club goal involvements in the Premier League, stats Salah will want to feature on the scoresheet (to say nothing of vibes Salah and form Salah).

The Managers Have Their Say

Arne Slot: “I think I’ve said many times already that at this moment of time we are not even thinking or talking about that [retaining the title]. Actually, we didn’t do this last season as well when we were top of the league. It’s just about the next game. I’ve said many times last season and I say this this season again as well, the best way to judge a league table is after 38 games.”

Sean Dyche: “You want a team and yourself to be confident wherever you go. There’s no guarantee with these things but I think we’ve got a team that can compete. That’s a big thing I work [on] with the group: we want to be competitive in every game no matter where we are, no matter what level we’re playing at, cup, league, irrelevant. Every game means something. We’re beginning to build that mentality.”

The Officials

Referee: Andy Madley. Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Simon Long. Fourth official: Adam Herczeg. VAR: James Bell. Assistant VAR: Mark Scholes.

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