Liverpool racked up a hat-trick of home wins against Nottingham Forest.

Diogo Jota broke the deadlock shortly after the half-hour mark when he pounced on the rebound from Matt Turner parrying Darwin Nunez’s effort.

Nunez would extend the Reds’ lead just a matter of minutes later as he met Dominik Szoboszlai’s cutback at the byline with a tidy close-range finish.

A third followed for Jurgen Klopp’s side in the closing stages when Turner’s botched clearance off his line gifted Mohamed Salah an open-goal strike.

Here were the key talking points from Anfield:

Reds keep their heads on difficult day

Few would begrudge Liverpool’s players for finding themselves distracted.

Preparations for Sunday’s clash with Nottingham Forest were overshadowed by news of the kidnapping of Luis Diaz’s parents in his native Colombia.

Understandably, the Reds no.7 was stood down from involvement as he and his family anxiously awaited the latest developments from their homeland.

It promised to make for a difficult afternoon, not least as the hosts were plagued by the one-year anniversary of their last Premier League home loss.

But in Diaz’s absence, Jurgen Klopp’s side produced a fitting tribute beyond Diogo Jota’s touching display of solidarity after he had opened the scoring.

The Portugal international held up a shirt bearing the 26-year-old’s name and number which prompted the player’s name to reverberate around Anfield.

An unprecedented situation required a semblance of normality for all concerned and Liverpool responded perfectly to those trying circumstances.

Mac Allister treading a very fine line

Alexis Mac Allister’s Anfield career has not exactly gone according to plan.

The World Cup winner would be the first to admit as much after a red card on his home debut and struggling with being perennially played out of position.

This was arguably Mac Allister’s best display in a red shirt to date as he was able to dictate the play more effectively against an ineffectual Forest side.

He regularly drove into the final third and was able to impose himself far more than previous weeks, when the holding role was highly prohibitive to creativity.

But the Argentine is treading a fine line after picking up a fourth booking of the Premier League campaign for a cynical second-half foul on the halfway line.

Another caution in Liverpool’s next two games will incur an automatic one-game ban, ruling him out of either Brentford’s visit or a trip to Manchester City.

Mac Allister’s frustrations with the deep-lying playmaker position will have to take a back seat in the coming weeks if he wants to help, not hinder, his side.

Darwin’s evolution continues apace

Darwin Nunez is showing little signs of suffering a second-season syndrome.

Gone are the days when derision of the Uruguayan as a poor man’s Andy Carroll carried substantial weight, contrary to opposing supporter claims.

A difficult opening 12 months on Merseyside are a distant memory as Nunez appears increasingly in the form of his life with another goal against Forest.

Deployed in a central role, a rasping first-half strike took his tally to six in the current campaign, matching his return after the same stage of last term.

More than most, Nunez has benefited from Klopp’s assembly of his ‘Liverpool 2.0’ with his core attributes better served by a more fluid midfield and attack.

A flourishing partnership with Mohamed Salah has been key to unlocking the 24-year-old’s ability to take his combined goal involvements to 10 so far.

Nunez is already over halfway to equalling last season’s 19 contributions and a continued evolution suggests that he will eclipse it sooner rather than later.