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Liverpool could lay down a huge marker in the Premier League title race today by beating Nottingham Forest away from home. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side kicks off the match just six points behind in the standings.
Arne Slot has gone with his strongest line-up, as expected. That means Alisson Becker is in goal with a back four of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson.
In midfield, Dominik Szoboszlai, who played 45 minutes against Accrington to get some action in his legs ahead of this game following his bout of illness, starts. Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister are alongside him with Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott among the options that Liverpool can use from the bench.
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Mohamed Salah starts on the right-hand side of the Liverpool attack with Luis Diaz through the middle and Cody Gakpo off the left. Darwin Nunez is suspended having hit five yellow cards in the Premier League this season, with Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa both among the substitutes.
“I’ve always said you can judge the table best halfway through the season,” Slot said during his pre-match press conference. “That moment is there now, so if Forest is then up there with us, with Arsenal, Chelsea and [Manchester] City and all the others, then they definitely are a team that is in competition with us and with the other teams.
“They deserve to be treated like this if you look at the way they play and if you look at their results. It’s going to be a very difficult challenge to get a result. I think they already showed, in retrospect, how good of a team they are [when they won at Anfield in the reverse fixture in September].
Liverpool starting XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Diaz, Gakpo. Subs: Kelleher, Quansah, Bradley, Tsimikas, Jones, Elliott, Endo, Jota, Chiesa.