Overview
After a volatile summer and an unconvincing start, both Liverpool and Nottingham Forest aim for their first victory of the season when facing at Anfield.
Andoni Iraola's era at Liverpool started quite lackluster last week. The Kop were twice led by Newcastle United at St James' Park but still drew 2-2 thanks to a penalty in the 90+9 minute by Dominik Szoboszlai.
Iraola can rely on some highlights from that match, but Liverpool still needs to add personnel if they want to continue to compete for the Premier League title.
New signings like Jeremy Jacquet, Victor Munoz and Ronald Araujo will help the squad have more depth, while Liverpool are said to be approaching an agreement to sign Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain.
It is likely that Iraola will keep the same squad as the draw with Newcastle when Liverpool plays their first home game of the season against Forest.
The results at St James' Park extended Liverpool's winless streak in the Premier League to 5, including 3 draws and 2 defeats. The last time The Kop experienced a longer streak was from May to September 2012.
However, Liverpool has many reasons to be confident when returning to Anfield. They have won their first home game in 12 of the last 13 Premier League seasons, except for the 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace in the 2022-2023 season.
Liverpool have also not lost their opening match at Anfield in the Premier League since the 1-2 defeat to Chelsea in the 2003-2004 season. In the last 22 home opening matches, they are unbeaten with 17 wins and 5 draws.
Forest will hope to end that impressive streak, even though Oliver Glasner's term is not starting as expected. The former Crystal Palace coach suffered two consecutive home defeats against Leeds United in the first 2 matches leading Forest.
However, they still have grounds to maintain optimism, especially after signing Liam Delap from Chelsea. This striker faced difficulties last season at Stamford Bridge, but Forest hopes he can regain the form he once showed in Ipswich Town's colors.
However, Forest's away record in the opening matches of the season is not very positive. They have only won 1 in the last 8 matches, besides 3 draws and 4 defeats. The only victory came against Southampton in the 2024-2025 season.
Forest also has notable signs from the end of last season when they won 3 of their last 4 away matches in the Premier League, only conceding 1 defeat. Glasner will want the team to continue to show that persistence at Anfield.
Head-to-head record
Despite their current form, Forest still has many grounds to be confident before the away match at Anfield. Since returning to the Premier League in 2022, they have defeated Liverpool 3 times, more than any other team in the same period.
Liverpool also lost to Forest in the last two Premier League encounters. Notably, this number of defeats is more than their total number of defeats in the previous 30 encounters, when Liverpool won 24 and drew 5 matches.
Score prediction: Liverpool 2-1 Nottingham Forest
The match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest takes place at 6:30 PM on August 29 (Vietnam time).
