Defending champions Liverpool have been all too pedestrian at times this season in the league, but they couldn’t be accused of that today as they almost took the lead inside 10 minutes.
A sweeping move culminated with Cody Gakpo finding Alexis Mac Allister a few yards from goal, but a heroic last-ditch block from Elliot Anderson incredibly kept the scores level to the disbelief of most inside Anfield.
Unsurprisingly, it was Liverpool doing most of the early running, and another chance came and went when a weaving Mohamed Salah run that saw him beat no fewer than three Forest players before finding Milos Kerkez, who volleyed over the bar.
For all the early pressure they had, though, it was Forest who took the lead against the run of play.
The Liverpool defence were all at sea as they attempted to clear a corner, and amongst the chaos, Murillo popped up to keep a cool head and arrow an effort into the corner.
Igor Jesus thought he’d doubled the visitors’ advantage when he worked a yard in the box and volleyed into the corner, but his joy was short-lived as he was adjudged to have handled before finishing.
The second half was billed to be one-way traffic towards the Forest goal, but instead, the visitors incredibly doubled their lead.
Former Liverpool man Nico Williams did the work in the build-up, cutting the ball back for Nicolo Savona, who swept the ball high into the roof of the net.
Arne Slot turned to his bench to introduce Hugo Ekitike in a desperate attempt to change the flow of the game, but despite taking a defender off in favour of getting an attacker on, his side simply couldn’t get going against Forest.
A raft of attackers on the pitch perhaps proved to be their undoing as Liverpool lacked any real cohesion, and they were punished brutally 12 minutes from time.
Omari Hutchinson’s stinging drive was parried to the feet of Morgan Gibbs-White, and his low left-footed effort trickled into the corner as Anfield started to empty.
A 3-0 reversal was the heaviest home league defeat Liverpool have fallen to under Arne Slot, as their title defence continues to falter.
Forest have now moved clear of the drop zone, and on the evidence of today, Sean Dyche could be the perfect man to keep them up.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Murillo (Nottingham Forest)
