Nottingham Forest are on their fourth manager of a season as much defined by their owner’s trigger-happy ways as much as any failings on the pitch. But Evangelos Marinakis will doubtless be praying for a third ‘new manager bounce’ of a campaign in which the sole aim is to avoid relegation.

A campaign that started full of optimism that the club had made relegation battles a thing of the past has descended, at times, into a farce with the owner taking centre stage. But the fact that victory today over Liverpool would take Forest five points clear of West Ham in 18th place perhaps hints (only a hint, however) that there may be method in Marinakis’s madness.

Vitor Pereira is the new man in the dugout, and fresh off the back of an impressive 3-0 win over Fenerbahce in the Europa League on Thursday, the Portuguese has told his players to forget about their precarious predicament and simply go out and enjoy themselves.

“Everyone must be ‌ready to ​help the team. ⁠This is what I ask them,” the Forest manager said. “I realised before I came that the players ⁠have a lot of ​quality. They need results but they need to enjoy the game.

“If they enjoy ​the way they are playing they can have ‌a high level. They ​need organisation and confidence.”

Liverpool are also in dire need of the points. Arne Slot’s men lie in sixth spot in the table, three points off the all-important Champions League places. But while the season has not gone according to plan, there are reasons for optimism. Liverpool have only lost two of their past 19 matches in all competitions and recent weeks have seen an upturn in individual performances, with Dominik Szoboszlai’s consistency supplemented by good form from summer signings Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez and Hugo Ekitike.

Stay here for all the team news, pre-match build-up and action with kick-off set for 2pm.