Nottingham Forest's Challenge at Anfield: A Clash of Rebuild and History
Nottingham Forest head to Anfield on Saturday still empty-handed in the new Premier League season, but with one powerful memory in their back pocket – they’ve won on their last two visits to this ground.
Those are the kind of details that matter when you’ve opened the campaign with back-to-back defeats, first in the league at Leeds United and then in the Carabao Cup days later. The form book says struggle. The recent history at Anfield whispers something different.
Forest’s rebuild meets Anfield reality
Oliver Glasner has never tried to hide the size of the job in front of him at the City Ground. This is a squad being reshaped on the fly, new pieces dropping into a dressing room that is still learning each other’s runs, habits and tempers.
He’s contrasted that openly with the rhythm and understanding of sides who have been together for years. Anfield, with all its noise and expectation, is a harsh classroom for a team still learning the script.
Even so, there are signs of a structure he trusts. The midweek Carabao Cup tie gave full debuts to summer arrivals Ousmane Diomande and Xaver Schlager, and both did enough to turn that outing into a serious audition for regular Premier League minutes. Glasner has no new injuries from that game, and both are now pushing hard to keep their places.
Team news: key absences, new spine
Nicolo Savona and Ryan Yates remain out injured and will not be involved. Their absence strips Forest of experience and energy in midfield, but it also clears space for the new core Glasner is building.
At the back, Murillo, Nikola Milenković and Diomande are expected to form a physically imposing back three. In front of them, a hard-running midfield four should offer protection and bite: Ola Aina and Neco Williams patrolling the flanks, Ibrahim Sangaré and Schlager anchoring the middle.
That leaves the creative burden where it so often falls for Forest – on Morgan Gibbs-White. He has either scored or assisted in half of Forest’s last six games at Anfield, a record that makes him the obvious reference point between midfield graft and attacking threat. He is set to operate just behind Igor Jesus, with Dan Ndoye offering legs and direct running alongside him.
If Forest are to extend their recent joy on Merseyside, that trio will have to find moments of clarity in a stadium that rarely allows time to breathe.
Predicted Nottingham Forest XI
Nottingham Forest possible starting XI (3-4-2-1):
Sels; Murillo, Milenković, Diomande; Aina, Sangaré, Schlager, Williams; Gibbs-White, Ndoye; Igor Jesus
Kick-off time and TV details
The Premier League clash at Anfield kicks off at 12:30 on Saturday, 29 August 2026.
In the UK, the game will be shown live on TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports Ultimate.
Forest arrive searching for their first points of the season, carrying the weight of a rebuild and the memory of two successful trips to this same pitch. Which of those stories will define their afternoon?
