Nottinghamshire

Jordan Butler
BBC Sport journalist

Liverpool will be eager to get back on track when they host struggling Nottingham Forest this weekend. BBC Sport explores some of the key themes surrounding this match.

The title holders have lost five of their past six top-flight games, which is more defeats than they suffered in the entirety of last season, and only bottom side Wolves have a worse record in that time.

It is the most losses a reigning champion has endured at this stage of a Premier League campaign since Leicester City in 2016-17 and only three reigning champions have amassed fewer points from their opening 11 games than the Reds.

The last team to win an English top-flight title after collecting 18 points or fewer from their first 11 games were Everton in 1986-87, which, given they are neighbours, could be considered a good omen for Arne Slot's side.

Not all bad news for Liverpool

But it is not all doom and gloom for the Merseysiders. They are firmly on course for a top-eight finish in the Champions League and Anfield remains a stronghold.

Liverpool have won four of their five outings on home soil this term, losing the other, and that sole defeat by rivals Manchester United last month, painful as it was, is their only home loss in 22 league matches.

While the title might appear out of sight – with eight points the gap between them and Arsenal – they are just four points adrift of Manchester City in second.

Slot has said feels five defeats "is too many" and the "last thing we should think about now is the title race", but if any side can put a series of wins together, it is the current champions. It just has to start now.

Trees find it tricky away

Nottingham Forest are yet to win away this season in any competition, with a return of four draws and four defeats from their eight visits to opposition grounds.

However, despite that form, Forest can take heart from the fact they were the only team to win at Anfield in the Premier League last season. Their 1-0 victory in September 2024 was also the only top-flight match in which Liverpool failed to score.

Is Forest's attack starting to click?

The results have certainly improved during Sean Dyche's short tenure so far - he has picked up two wins, two draws and suffered just one defeat in his first five games.

Some notable attacking numbers have also increased and they have scored more goals, averaged more shots and have a higher expected goals total under Dyche than either of his predecessors, despite having fewer touches in the opposition box.

Attacking midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White is one of the players benefitting from the change of manager. "We had a bit of a chat with Morgan, nothing heavy," said Dyche in his pre-match press conference. "There was no breakthrough moment or anything like that – it was just about reminding him that he is a good player."

The 25-year-old has found the net in each of Forest's previous two Premier League games and he heads to Anfield vying to score in three successive league matches for the very first time.

Image source, Getty Images

The Premier League will from next season move to a new system of Financial Fair Play (FFP) based on squad costs.

The clubs met in London on Friday to vote on three possible methods of replacing Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) got 14 votes in favour and six against, which is the minimum number that is required to exact a rule change.

Overall squad costs from next season will have to be limited to 85% of a club's revenue, although teams competing in Europe will have to adhere to Uefa's maximum of 70%.

Squad costs comprise player and manager wages, transfer fees and agents' fees.

Rules around sustainability, which set out a club's financial spending plans over the medium and long term, were passed unanimously.

Read more about the news and what it means here

Tasnim Chowdhury
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

The Premier League has announced the start and end dates for the 2026-27 season.

The first round of fixtures will take place across the weekend of 22 August 2026 - a week later than previous seasons.

The later start allows rest time for players - 89 clear days from the end of this season, and 33 days from the 2026 World Cup final.

The Premier League said the delay was a "priority" for player welfare in an "increasingly congested global football calendar".

The final matches of the season will be played on Sunday, 30 May 2027, with all fixtures kicking off simultaneously as usual.

The season will end a week before the 2027 Champions League final, which will be on Saturday, 5 June.

There will be 33 weekend and five midweek fixtures - the same as the current season.

For the festive period, the Premier League have said no two match rounds will take place within 60 hours.

It has not been confirmed if there will be any fixtures on 24 December 2026.

However, as Boxing Day falls on a Saturday, the Premier League has said there will be more matches scheduled than this season, when there is only one.

Image source, Getty Images

The Premier League returns on Saturday as Nottingham Forest travel to Liverpool in hope of another shock victory at Anfield like last season.

But there is no doubt it will be more challenging after Sean Dyche went in to Thursday's news conference with a hand-written injury list - an indication into just how many absentees Forest still have.

"It doesn't sound like any of them except Callum Hudson-Odoi are particularly close to a return," said Colin Fray on BBC Radio Nottingham's Shut Up And Show More Football podcast. "One or two are back on the grass but most of them are still working with the medical team.

"It looks like these injuries will drag on and Dyche is loathed to put any time scales on any of them.

"It is a bit of worry for Dyche that he has got fewer bodies to choose from, especially now the international break is out of the way because there was hope two or three might be back by now.

"It is a hectic period coming up as they play midweek for the next three weeks as well as at the weekends, so there is no rest-bite in the fixture list from now on.

"It was not really positive news."

Travelling to the reigning champions with a depleted squad does not sound like an easy feat but Forest fans can take some hope from the fact Liverpool went into the international break in poor league form.

"It is a fascinating time to go and play them," added Fray. "It is hard to work out why it has gone wrong for them having spent a lot of money in the summer to strengthen a title winning team but it just has.

"Yet when they can't put a run together in the Premier League they can beat Real and Atletico Madrid in the Champions League at Anfield!

"If Alexander Isak is fit and plays then he will no doubt score because he always does against Forest and if we are to get anything from the game then we have to be as good as we were last season.

"Forest have got to do their best to make sure it is not on this day that Liverpool recover from their slump."

Listen to the full episode here

Manchester United are eyeing Elliot Anderson, 23, but face competition from Liverpool and Newcastle for the £100m-rated England and Nottingham Forest midfielder. (Times - subscription required, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

A new episode of BBC Radio Nottingham's Shut Up And Show More Football podcast is available on BBC Sounds.

David Jackson and Colin Fray look ahead to Saturday's trip to face Liverpool at Anfield.

Also, hear from fan Stephen Crean, who was among multiple people stabbed on a train in Cambridgeshire earlier this month and hailed a hero after confronting the attacker.

Listen to the full episode here

Explore all Nottingham Forest content on BBC Sounds

Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter

Image source, Getty Images

One of potentially the biggest moments in English football is coming on Friday, but precious few people understand how important it could be or even know about it.

The Premier League is considering 'anchoring' wages, which would cap the amount any club could spend on their squad at five times the smallest central Premier League broadcasting and prize money payout.

It is a complex argument. The league and some clubs are considering it because they want to ensure wage inflation does not continue to rise endangering their long-term financial security. From the other side - the players and their union, the PFA - this unnaturally limits the amount they can earn in what has until now been a free and open market.

Any changes to that position foisted upon the players without their prior consultation and agreement will not go down well. Remember, the players are the people that the paying public, the TV companies and the advertisers want to see, not a bunch of chairmen, executives and directors arguing over accounts, dividends and profit margins.

The game has increased the number of games played per season without consulting those who are physically doing it. No studies on how that will affect their health in the short and long term were considered, and so the PFA in England looks like it is finally ready to take a strong stand for its members.

Strike ballots are not unknown, I should know, as chairman of the PFA my name was on the bottom of every ballot paper when we last considered strike action over changes in working conditions. The modern owners may have forgotten, but we had 99% backing from our members.

Owners may think of footballers as ultra wealthy, mercenary, thickos who can easily be controlled - well they thought that last time and they lost.

It is time for serious and meaningful negotiation between equals and not a master and serf attitude from one side towards the other.

Sign up to read more from Pat Nevin in his Football Extra newsletter

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Liverpool at Anfield (kick-off 15:00 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Winger Callum Hudson-Odoi is "making good progress" and is "in consideration" for the squad on Saturday. Meanwhile, forward Chris Wood is being rescanned but it is "good news so far", and Douglas Luiz is making progress so it will be "a matter of time but not instant".

• Dyche added that Wood's knee injury is "nothing too serious" and this is just a "settling period" for it.

• Dilane Bakwa, Ola Aina and Oleksandr Zinchenko are "making progress" but are still with the sports science and physios side of their recovery.

• The Forest boss said they will not know the impact of the win over Leeds United and subsequent international break "until the whistle blows", but "a break was needed" to give themselves more time with the players and for those injured to miss fewer games.

• He added: "We're building a feeling among the group that we think is positive. There were good signs after the Leeds game of that feeling, not just with a performance and result, but also the connection that you get after the game and that good feeling in the camp and around the club."

• On what midfielder Elliott Anderson's ceiling is: "He is a good player. He's got everything in front of him and I've spoke to him about what I call the nuts and bolts of his performances, but not at any length - less is more, I think, for him. He's naturally going about his business the right way, he's learning the game as he goes, so input is over coaching someone and you've got to be careful with that."

• Asked whether they can take confidence from winning at Anfield last season and good results he has had with previous sides, Dyche responded: "You want a team and yourself to be confident wherever you go. You can't guarantee these things but I think we've got a team that can compete. That's a big thing. We want to be competitive in every game. We're beginning to build that mentality."

• Dyche said the club "has shown they're willing to invest when they need to" as the winter transfer window approaches, adding: "But it's a constant thing, looking at players' availability, the shifting sands of football. Who is moving where? Who is doing what? That's football, not just Nottingham Forest. Sometimes you sit tight because that is what the market says you can't [do]."

Hear more from Dyche on BBC Sounds

Follow all of Thursday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Listen to BBC Radio 5 Live commentary of Liverpool v Nottingham Forest at 15:00 on Saturday on BBC Sounds

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

One of the biggest stories of the Premier League season so far is the decline of goals scored in open play and how teams have been scoring more from set-pieces instead.

When we compare how goals have been scored to the first 11 games last season, there have been 39 fewer scored in open play and 26 more from team set-pieces and penalties, giving us 13 fewer overall.

If we look at the bigger picture and the number of shots teams are taking, there have been an incredible 370 fewer in open play than at this stage last time out.

So which teams are most responsible for this change in how goals are scored this season?

The above graph compares how teams have gone up or down in numbers of set-piece and goals from open play compared with the same stage last season.

In terms of goals scored from open play, Wolves have seen by far the biggest decline, scoring just four in 11 games and that is 10 fewer than at this stage last season.

Outside of Wolves, the Premier League's decline in open play goals is very much a London thing, with five of the capital's seven sides scoring at least five goals fewer from open play than last season.

In fairness, that is largely down to them scoring lots of goals at the start of last season rather than them really struggling to score in open play this campaign.

Meanwhile Manchester City have seen the biggest increase, with all but one of their 23 goals scored this season coming in open play.

When it comes to goals scored from set-pieces (excluding penalties), Arsenal and Chelsea have seen the biggest increase, with both sides replacing the five fewer goals that they have scored in open play with the same number from dead-ball situation.

Manchester United have scored twice as many goals from set-pieces as they did in the 11 games before Ruben Amorim took charge last season.

On the flipside, Manchester City do not seem to have got the memo about scoring more from set-pieces because they've scored three fewer than last season, as have Nottingham Forest, although that might be down to the change in style they have tried to implement.

Read more about this season's scoring trends here