Paul Merson is anticipating a ‘hard game’ for Liverpool when they travel to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
The Reds have enjoyed an excellent week in two domestic cups, but all eyes are now back on their Premier League title pursuit, with this weekend offering them the chance to extend their lead over Manchester City and Arsenal before those two play their fixtures.
In a match between 1st and 17th, you’d expect the former to win every time, but Jurgen Klopp is having to deal with numerous injuries to key players, while his side lost on their previous visit to the Midlands club in October 2022.
Giving his weekend predictions for Sportskeeda, Merson expects Liverpool to face a stern test but prevail 2-1, writing: “This is a hard game, but I think Liverpool could have a bunch of senior players back in the squad for this one, with Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo expected to play some role in this game.
“I doubt Klopp will rush his key players back, especially with the Manchester City game on the horizon, but he’ll have them on standby in case this game doesn’t go as planned.
“Their young players have been outstanding so far, but they can’t play against Man City, with all due respect to them, so it remains to be seen how Klopp approaches this game in terms of his selection. Nonetheless, I’m going for a Liverpool win, but this is not going to be straightforward for the Reds.”
READ MORE: Liverpool could accept offers for cup final hero; he’s set to decide in the summer
Liverpool’s cause would certainly be helped if the likes of Nunez, Salah, Szoboszlai and Endo are fit enough to feature; but as Merson said, Klopp might tread cautiously with that quartet, considering that Man City come to Anfield on Sunday week, and with a Europa League trip to Sparta Prague in the meantime as well.
The Reds have made a habit of getting the job done the hard way this season, frequently coming from behind to earn three points, and a combination of numerous injuries and a hectic fixture period poses its own challenges.
Forest have kept just one clean sheet in their last 15 Premier League games, so our attackers must fancy their chances of getting on the scoreboard tomorrow, although Nuno Espirito Santo’s team have also found the net in each of their last nine top-flight matches (Transfermarkt).
The Midlands club have lost narrowly to Arsenal (twice) and City this term, so they won’t hold any major fear about facing Liverpool.
However, Klopp’s men usually find a way to win matches through a mixture of resilience and quality, and we agree with Merson in believing that the Reds might prevail by the narrowest of margins.