Liverpool Shocked by Nottingham Forest 0-1, Erling Haaland Shines in Manchester City Victory
Liverpool’s unbeaten streak under new manager Arne Slot came to an abrupt end as Nottingham Forest defeated Manchester City 1-0 at Anfield.
Erling Haaland of Manchester City, however, continued his incredible form by scoring twice in a 2-1 victory over Brentford. With this win, City extended their lead over the opposition in the Premier League to three points.
With a 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at Anfield on Saturday, Liverpool’s flawless start under Arne Slot came to an abrupt end, while Manchester City defeated Brentford 2-1 behind two goals from Erling Haaland to move three points clear atop the Premier League standings. Manchester United’s 3-0 victory over Southampton earlier in the day relieved some of the burden on Erik ten Hag.
Callum Hudson-Odoi’s goal with eighteen minutes remaining stunned the home crowd at Anfield, where Forest had not won in the top level for fifty-five years. Liverpool had won all three of their first matches under Slot, including a three-point victory two weeks earlier on the road at Manchester United, without giving up a goal.
But following the international break, the Reds were careless and lethargic, and they paid for it. Before halftime, Diogo Jota squandered a great opportunity to put Liverpool ahead, while Luis Diaz struck the crossbar.
They paid a price when Hudson-Odoi intercepted a pass from Anthony Elanga, cut inside, and beat Alisson Becker with a precise strike that was low.
“We are not thrilled with how the game went and are most frustrated by the outcome. We scarcely had any opportunities because it was a stop-start game, according to Slot.
“We simply need to examine ourselves; we need to improve. It was not good enough that we lost the ball around the area far too often. We need to improve when using the ball.”
With eight points from their first four games, Forest moves up to fourth place with the win.
“The players performed beautifully. Nuno Espirito Santo, the Forest manager, stated, “We were up against the ropes, but we stayed in the game and found our moment.”
Despite a terrible start, City made the most of Liverpool’s loss to go ahead of them in the standings by extending their winning streak to four games. Even though Haaland almost missed a Premier League record-tying third straight hat-trick, his form from the beginning of the season is still unstoppable.
After leveling the score with a strong deflected effort, the 24-year-old combined strength and talent to shrug off Ethan Pinnock and dink the ball over the charging Mark Flekken.
Haaland nearly scored a hat-trick after the break, but the post saved him from doing so. With four games played so far this season, he currently has a Premier League record nine goals.
During the international break, United was allowed to stew over their humiliation at the hands of Liverpool for two weeks, but they recovered from a sluggish start at Southampton.
Just before halftime, the visitors took a decisive lead thanks to two goals in five minutes, which required a penalty save from Andre Onana for the Red Devils to keep out Cameron Archer. Before Marcus Rashford snapped his six-month goal drought with a curling effort, Matthijs de Ligt nodded in his first goal for United.
After their return to the top division, Southampton has lost all four of their games without a point, and they furthered their own problems when skipper Jack Stephens was sent off for a reckless tackle on Alejandro Garnacho. In stoppage time, the Argentine got back up and finished with a thunderous shot into the roof of the net to complete the score.
“We scored a goal with Matthijs de Ligt immediately after Andre stopped the penalty, and we took control of the game,” Ten Hag remarked.
Third position Despite not losing, Brighton was unable to defeat Ipswich in a scoreless draw at the Amex.
Jean-Philippe Mateta’s double helped Crystal Palace rally from a 2-0 deficit to earn a 2-2 draw with Leicester. Danny Ings gave West Ham another late goal to steal a 1-1 draw against Fulham.
The main event on Sunday is the north London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham.
