Avid readers of Defector will not be surprised that Liverpool is still the top team in the Premier League standings. I've written plenty about how impressive the Reds have been under Arne Slot this season, and I'm sure I'll write plenty more. The team currently in second place, however, deserves some flowers as well, as Nottingham Forest, the little money tree that could, just finished taking four points from its two matches against that same Liverpool. After handing the league leaders what is still their only league loss of the season back in September, and at Anfield to boot, on Tuesday Forest played hosts and came out with a 1-1 draw that served to further solidify the Trees' table-scaling legitimacy.
The fireworks for the home side started early, courtesy of the goal-gobbling Kiwi, Chris Wood. The striker has been on a tear all season, scoring 12 goals heading into Tuesday's showdown. Lucky No. 13 came in the eighth minute against Liverpool, when Wood latched on to an Anthony Elanga through ball and sent a perfect cross-goal shot past Alisson and into the far side of the net, giving Forest a 1-0 lead to match its winning margin from the first match.
Normally, when a nominal underdog scores early, the tendency is to turtle up to protect the lead. But this fearless Forest team kept the pressure on, perhaps rallied by a rabid home crowd. Though neither side scored in the remaining 37-plus minutes of the first half, the hosts were certainly the better side entering the break.
One thing that Liverpool under Slot has been great at, however, is the second-half adjustment. And yet, after dominating possession in the first 45—the tally was an almost ludicrous 71 to 29 percent in favor of the Pool Boys; this is not abnormal for Forest, though, as it thrives without the ball, which its league-least 40 percent average for the season helps exhibit—Liverpool kept up that barrage of passes only to find the routes to goal still blocked for the first 20 minutes of the second half.
Whatever Slot's halftime talk consisted of, it wasn't working, so he went for a radical shift in the 65th minute, swapping out Andy Robertson for Kostas Tsimikas (a like-for-like change) and also Ibrahima Konaté for Diogo Jota, removing a center back and switching to a back three, albeit with Ryan Gravenberch slotting back into defense without the ball, and deploying an attacking quartet of Jota, Luis Díaz, Cody Gakpo, and Mohamed Salah.
The changes quite literally took no time to pay dividends when Tsimikas and Jota combined for the equalizer not even a minute after stepping onto the field. Liverpool hasn't been particularly great from corner kicks this year, but thanks to a bit of loose in-the-box defending by Forest, Tsimikas's cross in found Jota's head mere feet from the goal, and if there's one thing Jota does exceedingly well, it's put his headers on target:
After the equalizer, the real Liverpool came out to play, and it was one-way traffic from there. Liverpool maintained its possession dominance and was finally able to turn those passes into chance after chance. For the remaining 25 minutes of regular time and the seven of stoppage, the visitors racked up 13 shots, and at least half of those were in dangerous positions from dangerous players.
But conceding chances doesn't necessarily mean conceding goals, and Nottingham Forest is truly elite at preventing those conversions. Forest is tied for second on goals allowed in the Premier League—its 20 goals allowed this season are tied with Liverpool; Arsenal is first with 18—and the host side had to pull every defensive trick and bit of goalkeeping heroics to keep the score level at one. Thanks to the efforts of goalie Matz Sels and the backline, all of those 13 Liverpool shots landed somewhere besides the back of the net. Special shoutout to Ola Aina, who was perfectly positioned on the post to clear a Salah volley just inches from the goal.
It's hard work limiting Liverpool to only a single goal, as only Crystal Palace and Forest itself have done so in the league this season, but Forest has a working formula under journeyman manager Nuno Espírito Santo. With Wood leading the line and scoring goals for fun, Forest knows it doesn't need much to get a point or three from any particular match, and so Nuno's traditionally conservative approach is a great fit for his players' talents. It's how Forest has ridden an undefeated streak that goes back to the Dec. 4 1-0 loss against Manchester City, which has kept the club so high up the table.
No one should consider the Trees serious title contenders, but their system works and a top-four finish is looking likelier by the match. Time will tell whether soaring at these heights, with this much pressure and intensity, will wear on a side that doesn't have as much depth as the other Champions League hopefuls, but for now, Nottingham Forest has mastered the art of bending, breaking, and then snapping back into place.
