Substitute Diogo Jota’s header seconds after coming on denied Nottingham Forest a decisive victory against Liverpool in a thrilling 1-1 draw at the City Ground.
Chris Wood had given Forest a dream lead in the eighth minute and hoped they could knock out the Premier League leaders with a brilliant performance.
But Jota came to the rescue of Arne Slot’s men to earn what was probably a deserved draw, with Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels making a number of brilliant saves to give the hosts a point.
The draw means Liverpool maintain their six-point lead at the top of the table, with Forest moving past Arsenal into second place ahead of tomorrow’s north London derby.
Nottingham Forest v Liverpool
Wood sent the City Ground into pandemonium in the eighth minute with a typically devastating counter-attack after spending much of the previous seven minutes defending early pressure from the league leaders.
Anthony Elanga’s through ball found the New Zealand international, who took a touch before calmly slotting past Alisson for his 13th of the season.
Just listen to this roar 🔊
Chris Wood opens the scoring for Nottingham Forest with a perfectly executed break 🔥
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– Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 14, 2025
Liverpool continued to dominate the ball with 71% possession in the first half, but failed to score on any of their nine attempts in the first half, with Luis Diaz guilty of two wayward shots.
The hosts remained useful even though they barely saw the ball. Murillo was not far behind shortly after Wood’s goal with a long-range effort as the first half drew to a close, leaving Arne Slot with plenty of thinking to do.
Jota saves Liverpool
Much of the same continued in the second half as Liverpool continued to struggle to break down a stubborn Forest defence, until Jota’s introduction just after the hour mark.
Less than 30 seconds after being introduced to save the match in place of defender Ibrahima Konate, the Portuguese striker was in the perfect position to head in the corner from close range and level Liverpool.
The 28-year-old was then denied the chance to give the visitors the lead after cutting inside before his shot was saved by Matz Sels in the Forest net.
The definition of instant impact 😤
Diogo Jota scores with his first touch of the match just 25 seconds after being substituted ⏰
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– Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 14, 2025
Jota continued to lead Liverpool’s campaign to a winner, but was once again stopped by the genius of Sels, who got wide and produced a magnificent save from close range with just over 10 minutes remaining. play.
Forest were not prepared to give up a famous victory however as Elanga’s ball across goal just eluded Jota Silva in the penalty area.
Mohamed Salah then looked to have finally found his shooting boots in the 88th minute, but was unable to convert three good chances, the first two thanks to another save from Sels and a block on the line from Ola Aina, before not being able to keep a lefty. fly down.
Belgian striker Sels was there to keep the score level late on as Dominik Szoboszlai’s long-range strike was deflected just past the post in added time.
