‘Go and prove it’ – Arne Slot issues rallying Liverpool cry ahead of Nottingham Forest clash | OneFootball

Arne Slot has issued a rallying call to his Liverpool side as they resume their season with a home fixture against Nottingham Forest this afternoon.

The 47-year-old has had just under a fortnight to stew over the 3-0 thrashing by Manchester City prior to the international break, but today’s match begins an uninterrupted four-month marathon of games which are set to define the Reds’ season.

Both teams come into the match at Anfield well below their finishing positions from last term, with the reigning champions sitting eighth as of Saturday morning and the Garibaldi – seventh in 2024/25 – languishing second from bottom and onto their third manager of the campaign already.

Slot urges Liverpool to ‘go and prove’ a point today

Despite Forest’s poor start to the season, Slot is mindful of what the visitors can produce under new boss Sean Dyche, having inflicted the first defeat of the Dutchman’s Liverpool reign at this very stadium 14 months ago.

In his programme notes ahead of today’s match, the Reds’ head coach wrote: “This is the nature of the Premier League. In other leagues it is sometimes possible to see a team that is towards the bottom and maybe see them as an ‘easier’ opponent, but this definitely isn’t true in England.

“It was only a matter of months ago that Forest finished seventh with 65 points, having won at Anfield earlier in the season, so we know that their level is much higher than the current league table might suggest.

“We also believe the same is true of ourselves but there is no point just saying it or thinking it; we have to go and prove it.”

(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Forest have nothing to lose against Liverpool

Ordinarily, Liverpool playing at Anfield against the team in second bottom would point towards a comfortable home win, but that’s one of the last adjectives you’d use to describe our season so far.

Dyche wasn’t the man in charge when Forest won in L4 last season, but his record at the stadium is decent – he drew there twice with Burnley and oversaw the Claret’s 1-0 victory here in January 2021, LFC’s first on their own turf in the Premier League for nearly four years.

The former Everton boss has also made a good start with the Garibaldi since replacing Ange Postecoglou last month, seeing off Porto and Leeds convincingly and earning a point against a resurgent Manchester United.

Forest could turn today’s match into a dogfight and will know that the pressure is on Liverpool to win, and although predictions for the fixture sparked debate among The Overlap pundits this week, the champions simply have to take three points today, with the greatest of respect to our visitors.

That task has been made a little harder with the absences of Florian Wirtz and Conor Bradley through injury, but if the Reds can settle the crowd’s nerves with an early goal, hopefully their quality will shine through and they can tick off a third home victory in November.

You can watch Slot’s full pre-Nottingham Forest press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube: