Substitute Diogo Jota’s header seconds after coming on denied Nottingham Forest victory against Liverpool in a pulsating 1-1 draw at the City Ground.
Chris Wood gave surprise top four challengers Forest a dream early lead in the eighth minute and it looked like they might shut out the Premier League leaders for a while with a brilliant performance.
But Jota came to the rescue of Arne Slot’s side to earn an arguably deserved draw, with Forest stopper Matz Sels pulling off a couple of brilliant saves to earn a point for the hosts.
The draw means Liverpool maintain their six-point lead at the top of the table and Forest move above Arsenal into second place ahead of tomorrow’s north London derby.
Nottingham Forest vs 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 fending off early pressure from the league leaders.
Anthony Elanga’s through ball found the New Zealand international, who took one touch before coolly slotting past Alisson for his 13th of the season.
Just listen to that roar 🔊
Chris Wood opens the scoring for Nottingham Forest with a perfectly executed breakthrough 🔥
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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 in any of their nine first-half attempts, with Luis Diaz guilty of two onside kicks.
The hosts remained useful even though they barely saw the ball. Murillo wasn’t far away shortly after Wood’s long-range strike as the first half ended leaving Arne Slot with a lot to think about.
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 the introduction of Jota just after the hour mark.
Within 30 seconds of being brought on to save the game in place of defender Ibrahim Konate, the Portuguese forward was in the perfect position to head home a close-range header to level Liverpool.
The 28-year-old was then denied the chance to give the visitors the lead when he crossed inside before Matz Sels saved his shot into the Forest net.
Definition of immediate influence 😤
Diogo Jota scores with his first touch of the game just 25 seconds after being switched to ⏰
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 14, 2025
Jota continued to lead Liverpool’s effort for the winner, but was again halted by the brilliance of Sels, who went wide and made a superb save from close range with just over 10 minutes remaining.
However, Forest was not ready to give up the famous victory because Elanga’s ball over the goal just eluded Joto Silva inside the penalty area.
Mohamed Salah then looked to have finally found his shooting boots in the 88th minute but was unable to capitalize on three great chances, the first two thanks to another Selso save and a block on the line by Ola Aina, before he failed to keep out the left put your foot down.
Belgian shot-stopper Sels was on hand to keep the scores level in stoppage time after Dominik Szoboszlai’s long-range shot was deflected wide of the post in stoppage time.
