Premier League: Liverpool VS Nottingham Forest: Taiwo Awoniyi scores for promoted Forest against the Reds

Awoniyi's 55th-minute goal was enough to not only give Nottingham only their second win of the season but also lift them off the foot of the Premier League table – at least for the time being.

It ensured Liverpool continued their unwanted record of not getting an away win so far in the league season. And it undid whatever momentum they had built up over their last two games.

The back-to-back 1-0 home wins over Manchester City and West Ham did at least stop their poor form for the time being, even though that second win owed a lot to West Ham's wastefulness as it did to Liverpool digging deep.

However, Liverpool is going through a slump – and it showed. The irony of the loss was that it came courtesy of a player they released in the summer of 2021.

Awoniyi had a spate of loan moves from when he joined Liverpool in 2015 but never managed to break into the Reds' first team and left them for Union Berlin, having not made a single Liverpool senior appearance.

However, a decent season in Germany meant he was on Forest's radar when they got promoted, and in this match, he showed why.

An excellent close-range finish in the middle of the second half gave Forest an unexpected lead they would cling to until the full-time whistle.

But Liverpool was also wasteful; two of their best chances fell to Virgil van Dijk, whose headers were either saved by an in-form Dean Henderson or flashed wide of goal.

The first of those chances came when Milner picked out Van Dijk with a well-weighted left-foot cross off the right flank. However, the Dutchman's tame header flashed well across the goal.

The second came in the injury time of the second half, and it saw mad celebrations among the fans and players.

In the end, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was left ruing what could have been. "The performance I can kind of explain, the result not to be honest," he said after the game.

"I never saw a game where one team has four or five no-brainers from a set piece where we have to finish it.

"The way they defend we were perfectly prepared for that. We had to put the game to bed, to be honest."

Forest manager Steve Cooper, on the other hand, was understandably pleased with the result and said it would be a 'reference point for the team going forward.

"It's a significant win for the club and the city; there is a lot of excellent history around the fixture, and us being back in the Premier League, this is a fixture that the fans would have looked forward to".

"Going forward, it's a good reference point for us to show we can compete at this level and we can create chances. We are feeling very satisfied with our work and were deserving of the win as well."

Liverpool remains in seventh after the win, whereas Forest stays in the drop zone – but is now nineteenth instead of dead last.