The second week of the Premier League season is here. The first fixture of the Saturday slate sees Liverpool host Nottingham Forest at Anfield. The game kicks off at 7:30 a.m. ET.
Liverpool are a -190 favorite on DraftKings Sportsbook for this one, with a draw available at +360. Nottingham Forest are +475 to pull off the upset and take all three points.
Here is my prediction and pick for the Premier League tilt between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
Liverpool vs. Nottingham Forest Prediction, Preview
Liverpool Preview
It was an interesting opening match of the season for Liverpool at St. James’ Park. Liverpool looked the more dangerous side for most of the first half, but gave up an early counter-attacking goal to Newcastle to go down 1-0 at halftime. The Reds got their equalizing goal 10 minutes into the second half, but then immediately conceded again to go back down 2-1. It took a late penalty, earned by Victor Munoz and scored by Dominik Szoboszlai, for Liverpool to escape Tyneside with a point.
This is a depleted Liverpool squad to start the first season under Andoni Iraola. Key figures like Conor Bradley and Hugo Ekitike are missing through injury, and they have done minimal business to replace key figures like Mo Salah and Andy Robertson that left after last season. Reinforcements seem on the way in the form of PSG winger Bradley Barcola, but Liverpool supporters will have to wait at least another week to see him in a red shirt.
Nottingham Forest Preview
Matchweek 1 was not a happy experience for Nottingham Forest. In Forest’s first match under Oliver Glasner, they lost 1-0 at home to Leeds United. The game was relatively balanced statistically, but it was Leeds that found the late winner in the 88th minute. This trip to Anfield will be a much tougher task for Forest than a home match against Leeds. Last season was a rough one for Forest, finishing 16th in the Premier League table. That team lost superstar midfielder Elliot Anderson to Manchester City over the summer. His quality will be tough to replace, and Glasner will need to do a special job to keep this team away from the relegation zone this season.
Liverpool vs. Nottingham Forest Pick, Best Bet
My best bet is for Liverpool to win in shutout fashion against Forest on Saturday. The atmosphere at St. James’ Park was incredible last weekend, and the Newcastle players fed off that. They had a couple of dangerous attacking players who were able to take advantage of Liverpool on the counterattack. This time around, Andoni Iraola should have his team prepared to combat those counter-attacking situations, and it should be the Anfield crowd pushing its team to get back and defend hard. Despite Liverpool’s lack of squad depth at the moment, they have far more quality than Forest and should win this one with relative comfort.
