If Darwin Nunez was Liverpool's hero of the day, then Paul Tierney was Nottingham Forest's pantomime villain as the Uruguayan nodded home an electric 99th-minute winner off the bench in the Midlands.
The win leaves Liverpool in a similar position to Forest in respect of their goals, with the side from Anfield four points clear at the top of the tree, and with Forest four points clear of the drop zone with both Man City and Luton holding a game in hand over their respective table neighbours.
The goal sparked pandemonium in the away end, but pure rage in the home stands as the hosts felt aggrieved by a decision 60 seconds prior to give a drop ball back to Liverpool whilst Forest were attacking.
With a selection of missed chances and a failure to clear their lines in their wake at fulltime, frustrations boiled over at The City Ground, whilst it was party mode for the men from Merseyside.
Story of the game
It was a cagey opening affair in Nottingham, with the old rivals sizing each other up in the opening 20 as they tried to find any chink in each other's strong defences.
A glimmer of such presented itself for Liverpool cult hero Divock Origi, now deployed against them in a different red, as he brushed aside Andy Robertson and Joe Gomez before drilling a low effort barely wide of Caoimhin Kelleher's left-side post.
The chance revitalised the vistor's somewhat, and Robertson quickly recovered a ball into the path of Luis Diaz, who took aim from the edge only to be thwarted by the outstretched sliding leg of Andrew Omobamidele.
Forest bit back shortly after with the biggest chance the game had to offer, as more good play from Origi released Anthony Elanga clean through on goal. The young Swede, in fine numerical form this season, sped away from the challenges of Virgil Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate to face off with Kelleher, but the Irish deputy 'keeper denied the forward with a flailed left leg.
The contest continued in it's back-and-forth rhythm as Liverpool again jabbed back as the half-hour mark beckoned, and it was Murillo on hand to save the day as the Brazilian prodigy brilliantly blocked from close range to deny Diaz, who had recovered a scuffed attempt from youngster Bobby Clark, on his first Premier League start.
The second half saw Liverpool take far more control of possession, and it was Robertson with his head in hands for guilt of failing to draw first blood, lashing a good attempt wide of the mark after Diaz had improvised a loose ball into his path in the box.
Mere moments after hour-mark substitute Nunez had crashed a tight effort into the side-netting, Forest bullied their way forward through the left flank through Callum Hudson-Odoi, who slid it through for another sub in Taiwo Awoniyi to cushion down for Harry Toffolo. His low ball across the box presented itself for Elanga to fire one off, but it dragged agonizingly wide at the far post.
As the game trudged towards the hour mark, Diaz and Hudson-Odoi both fell guilty of missed opportunities as one set of reds attacked and the other held on.
It was the visiting reds who came ever so close to snatching it earlier than they eventually did, but through a red combatant of opposing cloth in Murillo, who inadvertently deflected a Kostas Tsimikas corner towards his own goal, but for the brilliant reactions of Matz Sels to claw it off the line at a split-seconds notice.
Such elation would soon be soured, however. As a Morgan Gibbs-White corner made it's way into the area, a half-hearted clash between Kelleher, Ryan Yates and Konate saw the Frenchman go down in his own area clutching his head.
Despite Forest still being in possession of the ball at the time of the injury stoppage, referee Paul Tierney gave the drop-ball to Liverpool rather than Forest as it seemingly should have been, much to the aggravation of the City Ground faithful.
Liverpool quickly made their way forward and won a corner which was cleared only to the edge by Forest, where the visitors won it back as the hosts failed to clear their lines to hang one up into the box for Nunez, who placed his header beyond Sels to secure three points at the death, and to send the away end into a blitzkrieg.