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Nottingham Forest Aims for First Points at Anfield

Nottingham Forest head to Anfield on Saturday still empty-handed in the new Premier League season, carrying early scars but also a curious kind of confidence.

Oliver Glasner’s side lost their league opener to Leeds United and then slipped out of the Carabao Cup days later. No points, no cup run, and a fanbase already twitchy. Yet the fixture list now sends them to a ground where Forest, improbably, have won on each of their last two visits. Anfield has not been a place of fear for them lately. It has been a refuge.

That history will not mask the scale of Glasner’s task. He has spoken openly about the rebuild at the City Ground, about trying to knit together a new-look group against teams whose cores have been together for years. Forest are learning on the job, and the lessons are coming fast.

Forest team news: new faces, old absences

There are no surprises on the treatment table. Nicolo Savona and Ryan Yates remain out injured and will play no part at Anfield. Their absence strips Forest of energy and experience in midfield, areas where Liverpool rarely show mercy.

The focus instead turns to the summer arrivals who have been thrown straight into the fray. Ousmane Diomande and Xaver Schlager both made their full debuts in the Carabao Cup in midweek and did enough to keep the door open for league starts. They are pushing hard to stay in the XI, and Glasner has reported no fresh fitness concerns from that tie.

The shape is becoming familiar. Murillo, Nikola Milenković and Diomande are expected to anchor a back three, asked to stand firm under the kind of pressure Anfield routinely generates. In front of them, a hard-running midfield four of Ola Aina, Ibrahim Sangaré, Schlager and Neco Williams should provide the screen, the legs and the width.

Higher up the pitch, the creative burden falls again on Morgan Gibbs-White. He has either scored or assisted in half of Forest’s last six games at Anfield, a record that underlines how often he rises to this stage. He is set to operate just behind Igor Jesus, working in tandem with Dan Ndoye as Forest look to break with purpose rather than simply survive.

Predicted Forest XI

Nottingham Forest possible starting XI (3-4-2-1):

  • Sels;
  • Murillo, Milenković, Diomande;
  • Aina, Sangaré, Schlager, Williams;
  • Gibbs-White, Ndoye;
  • Igor Jesus.

Kick-off and TV details

The Premier League meeting at Anfield kicks off at 12:30 on Saturday, 29 August 2026.

In the UK, the match will be shown live on TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports Ultimate.

Forest arrive wounded, still chasing their first point of the campaign. They also arrive with back-to-back wins at this stadium in their recent memory. Which version of Nottingham Forest walks out at Anfield this time?

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