Substitute Diogo Jota's header within seconds of coming on denied Nottingham Forest a complete win over Liverpool in a pulsating 1-1 draw at the City Ground.
Chris Wood gave top-four rivals Forest an early lead in the eighth minute and for a while it looked like they might overtake the Premier League leaders with an impressive display.
But Jota rescued Arne Slott's side to what was likely a deserved draw, with Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels making a number of brilliant saves to earn a point for the hosts.
The draw means Liverpool maintain their six-point lead at the top of the standings, with Forest moving above Arsenal into second place ahead of tomorrow's north London derby.
Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool
Wood sent the City Ground into disarray in the eighth minute with a devastating counter-attack after spending most of the previous seven minutes defending the league leaders' early pressure.
Anthony Elanga's through ball found the New Zealand international, who took touch before calmly shooting past Alisson for his 13th goal of the season.
Just listen to this roar 🔊
Chris Wood opens the scoring for Nottingham Forest through a brilliant attack 🔥
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 14, 2025
Liverpool continued to control the ball by 71% in the first half, but it was unable to hit any of its nine attempts in the first half on goal, as Luis Diaz committed two foul shots.
The hosts remained useful despite receiving little of the ball. Murillo was not far behind after Wood scored with a long-range shot as the first half ended which left Arne Slott with plenty of thinking to do.
Jota saves Liverpool
The same continued in the second half as Liverpool continued to struggle to break down a stubborn Forest defence, that was until Jota came on after the hour mark.
Within 30 seconds of being introduced to save the game in place of defender Ibrahima Konate, the Portuguese striker was in the perfect position to curl a close-range header into the corner and Liverpool equalised.
The 28-year-old was denied the chance to put the visitors ahead after he cut in before his shot was blocked by Mats Szils past Forest.
Definition of immediate effect 😤
Diogo Jota scores with his first touch of the match just 25 seconds after being substituted ⏰
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 14, 2025
Jota continued to lead Liverpool's attack to victory, but was again held back by the brilliance of Sales, who spread wide and made a superb save from close range with just over 10 minutes to play.
Forest were not prepared to give up a famous victory, as Elanga's ball across goal evaded Jota Silva inside the six-yard box.
Mohamed Salah looked to have finally found his shooting target in the 88th minute, but was unable to convert three great chances, the first two thanks to another Sils save and a goal-line save from Ola Aina, before being unable to find his left foot. Down shot.
Belgian goalkeeper Sales was on hand to keep the equalizer late again as Dominik Szoboszlai blocked a long-range shot wide of the post in stoppage time.
