Diogo Jota by, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah were on target as Liverpool eased to a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest at Anfield to cut the gap to leaders Tottenham to three points.
Jota converted the opener from close range in the first half and celebrated with a show of solidarity to Luis Diaz, holding up the absent winger’s shirt following the news of his parents’ kidnapping in Colombia.
Nunez scored a well-worked Liverpool second a few minutes later, turning home Dominik Szoboszlai’s cut-back after the midfielder had been played in by Salah on the right-hand side of the Forest box.
The Egyptian added the third in the second half after an error from Forest goalkeeper Matt Turner, who came racing out of his box only to fail to cut out Szoboszlai’s long pass, with Salah taking full advantage to score his 10th goal of the campaig
Forest’s only chance of note saw Anthony Elanga strike the crossbar in the closing stages but the result was never in any doubt, with Jurgen Klopp dedicating the win to Diaz and praising his players for their performance in “the most difficult circumstances” of his career.
It’s not about us, it’s about Lucho and his family, and we all pray and hope that everything will be fine,” he added.
Forest were set up to sit back and absorb pressure but Liverpool’s quality soon proved too much, with the hosts creating two openings from Nunez, one from a Salah pass and the second from a corner, before Salah played him in again for the opener.
The Uruguayan’s powerful, angled effort was parried by Turner, but Jota, Diaz’s replacement in the team, was on hand to turn the loose ball home before running over to the bench for his pre-planned tribute to his absent team-mate.
Liverpool continued to overwhelm Forest when play resumed and the second goal arrived soon afterwards, when Salah played in Szoboszlai following a slick move and the Hungarian found Nunez to convert his sixth goal of the season.
Liverpool could have been completely out of sight before the break, with Turner saving from Ryan Gravenberch and Szoboszlai in quick succession, but they continued to dominate in the second half.
Forest had one of few real chances when Nicolas Dominguez failed to properly connect with a low cross from Morgan Gibbs-White cross, and that near miss was swiftly punished.
Salah’s goal, stroked into an empty net after Turner’s misjudgement allowed the excellent Szoboszlai’s pass to bounce over his head, extended the 31-year-old’s run of goal involvements at Anfield to 14 consecutive Premier League appearances.
Forest went close for the first time when Elanga crashed his diagonal effort off the underside of the bar in the closing stages, but they finished the game having failed to even register a shot on target, the defeat keeping them 16th.
Liverpool, meanwhile, thought they had added a fourth when substitutes Harvey Elliott and Cody Gakpo combined in stoppage time, but VAR found the Dutchman to be offside. Three goals were more than enough, though, to ensure optimism continued to grow on Merseyside around their strong start to the campaign.
