Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool: Predicted Starting XI, Team News, and Injury Updates for Premier League Clash

Good evening, here’s the latest from Arne Slot and his preparations for Tuesday night’s Premier League clash against Nottingham Forest.

Liverpool head to the City Ground looking for revenge after suffering their only league defeat of the season so far in the reverse fixture against Forest back in September. The Reds are determined to bounce back, but Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, fresh off their surprise 1-0 win at Anfield, will be looking to complete a league double over Liverpool, which would close the gap at the top of the table to just three points. However, even if Forest achieve that, Liverpool will still have a game in hand.

The good news for Slot is that there are no fresh injury concerns for his squad. Dominik Szoboszlai is fully fit after being substituted at halftime during their FA Cup victory over Accrington Stanley in a planned move. Meanwhile, Diogo Jota is now ready to play a full 90 minutes in the Premier League after completing the full match on the weekend without issue.

Slot spoke about Jota’s fitness: “It’s true. He is, like all the others, someone I like to have in my squad. I like to have him available and when it comes to building up his match fitness, I think you also saw that it went from 30 minutes to 30 minutes to a bit more and a bit more,” he said. “Now he’s ready to play 90 and that’s a good thing because we have to play many games in the upcoming weeks. It’s nice to have him available and hopefully, it stays like this for the last four or five months.”

As for Liverpool’s absentees, Darwin Nunez will miss out due to suspension after accumulating five yellow cards. Joe Gomez will also be sidelined, with Slot confirming the defender is “quite far” from fitness.

On a positive note, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker, Ibrahima Konate, Ryan Gravenberch, Cody Gakpo, and Mohamed Salah are all set to return to the starting lineup after being given the weekend off. Alexis Mac Allister, Andrew Robertson, and Luis Diaz are pushing for starting spots after coming on as substitutes against Accrington Stanley.

Here’s the predicted Liverpool XI for the match: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Szoboszlai, Gakpo, and Diaz.

Key updates:

• Injured: Joe Gomez
• Suspended: Darwin Nunez

The match kicks off at 8pm GMT on Tuesday, 14th January 2025 at the City Ground, and will be broadcast on TNT Sports. Stay tuned for more updates as we head into an exciting Premier League encounter!