Liverpool v Nottingham Forest LIVE - Jurgen Klopp's Reds host Premier League strugglers

Liverpool begin the match eighth, nine points off a top-four spot with their Champions League hopes appearing slim. However, European football is still very much in play. Sixth place will bring with it European football, assuming Manchester United finish in the top five, and seventh would do as well if United, Manchester City or perhaps Brighton and Hove Albion win the FA Cup.

Liverpool are battling against Tottenham Hotspur, Brighton and Aston Villa for those places - perhaps Newcastle United too. A Liverpool win today would see them leapfrog the Seagulls, while Villa are playing Brentford at the same time as this match.

Klopp expects the visitors will "fight for their lives", and insists "all our focus is on Nottingham" rather than any other matches.

The Liverpool boss was also talking about Alexander-Arnold playing in a hybrid midfield role. It "suits him in the moment really well," was Klopp's verdict. "It's a challenge for everyone else to cover the spaces when we lose the ball theoretically, but with him there we didn't lose that many balls which was helpful as well."

Klopp added it is not "set in stone" that Alexander-Arnold will play in that style moving forward, but with Liverpool likely to dominate possession today you can expect Alexander-Arnold to step into midfield a lot.

Forest have not beaten Liverpool at Anfield since 1969. That translates to being winless in their last 25 visits.

Forest won the reverse fixture 1-0 via a goal from Awonyi.

Orel Mangala replaces Brennan Johnson - Forest's leading scorer - in Steve Cooper's sole change. That should pack the midfield, but Johnson's goal threat will be missed. He has scored twice as many as Forest's next-best scorer.

Neco Williams and Taiwo Awonyi are both former Liverpool players.

Nottingham Forest: Navas, Williams, Felipe, Niakhate, McKenna, Lodi, Freuler, Mangala, Danilo, Gibbs-White, Awonyi.

Jurgen Klopp names the same 11 players who started at Elland Road. That means Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo are the forwards joined in attack by Mohamed Salah, while we can expect Trent Alexander-Arnold to have the freedom to join the midfield.

Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Jones, Salah, Gakpo, Jota.

Welcome to LIVE coverage of Nottingham Forest's trip to Anfield. Forest are battling for their Premier League status but have a dreadful record at this stadium, last tasting victory more than half a century ago.

As if that wasn't daunting enough, they face a Liverpool team fresh from demolishing Leeds United 6-1 last time out. Team news is coming up next.