Liverpool 3-0 Nottingham Forest: Reds dedicate win to absent team-mate Luis Diaz

Liverpool's players applaud as Diogo Jota celebrates his goal by holding up a shirt with the name of team-mate Luis Diaz on it

Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool won "for our brother" Luis Diaz after claiming victory over Nottingham Forest "in the most difficult of circumstances" at Anfield.

Diogo Jota, surrounded by his team-mates, held up the Colombia player's number seven shirt after firing the Reds into a 31st-minute lead when Matt Turner turned Darwin Nunez's attempt into the Portuguese forward's path.

"The best thing we could do is win the game for our brother," Klopp told Match of the Day afterwards.

"We played the game in the most difficult circumstances I've ever had. After more than 1,000 games [as a manager] you would think you've experienced everything.

"But it's not about us. We all pray that everything will be fine. The only thing we could do is fight for our brother and that's what they (the players) did. The boys fought for their brother."

Jota said the decision to hold up Diaz's shirt after scoring was "to show we're with him" in an "unimaginable situation".

"Luis was with us in the hotel [before the game] then he went home," he added to MOTD.

"He was going to play. I played instead of him and I showed him his shirt to show we're with him and we hope everything works out."

Liverpool were dominant and, after Jota's opener, Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez doubled the advantage four minutes later with his sixth club goal of the campaign after a cutback by the impressive Dominik Szoboszlai.

Forest's miserable day was complete when Turner and substitute Harry Toffolo got in a tangle, allowing Mohamed Salah to become only the third player in Liverpool's history to score in each of the opening five home league matches of a season.

Klopp's side are fourth is the table, three points behind leaders Tottenham, while Forest, who failed to seriously test Liverpool keeper Alisson, are 16th, five points above the relegation zone.

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Diogo Jota with Luis Diaz's shirt after scoring

Salah landmark as Reds keep focus

Liverpool fans chanted the name of Diaz, who joined for an initial £37.5m in January 2022, as their team maintained their 100% home winning run in the league.

The 26-year-old had been due to play before news emerged on the eve of the match about his parents.

The late change did not disrupt the Reds on the pitch, however, with Klopp's team having now gone a year without losing at home in the league.

Liverpool finished a distant 22 points behind champions Manchester City last season. With more than a quarter of this season gone, they are proving much more of a threat near the top of the table.

But for Forest keeper Turner, they would have won by a more handsome margin as he made fine saves to deny summer signings Ryan Gravenberch and Szoboszlai.

But Turner was then involved in the error that led to Salah making it 3-0 in the 77th minute and claiming his 145th Premier League goal for Liverpool.

Turner was well outside his area when Szoboszlai launched the ball forward from his own half, with the in-form Salah taking advantage of the mix-up between the keeper and Toffolo to score his 10th Liverpool goal in all competitions this season.

The Egypt forward joined Harry Chambers (1922) and John Aldridge (1987) in achieving the feat of scoring in each of the opening five home league matches of a season.

Frustrated Forest can't end Anfield hoodoo

Forest's long wait for a win at Anfield, which they last achieved in 1969, goes on after injury deprived them of fielding a recognised striker in their starting XI.

Taiwo Awoniyi and Chris Wood have scored six of their team's 10 goals this season, but Awoniyi - on Liverpool's books before joining Union Berlin in 2021 after a loan spell in Germany - started on the bench after a groin problem, while Wood was ruled out with a hamstring issue.

With Callum Hudson-Odoi and former Reds player Divock Origi also missing through injury, it was left to winger Anthony Elanga and midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White to lead a makeshift attack.

They only seriously threatened after Liverpool had established a 3-0 lead, with Elanga hitting the woodwork in the closing stages before volleying a good chance over.

Turner's error only compounded Cooper's misery with Forest now without a goal in three away games.

"It's frustrating," he said. "The idea was to keep the pitch as small as you can. When you open up the pitch that's when Liverpool are at their most dangerous.

"We look at the goals and think, 'we should've done better'."