Liverpool head coach Arne Slot said he “couldn’t have asked for anything more” from his team against title contenders Nottingham Forest.

Forest held the league leaders to a 1-1 draw at the City Ground on Tuesday night, with a second-half header from Diogo Jota canceling out an early goal from the in-form Chris Wood.

Liverpool looked far from their best against Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, but they remain six points clear at the top of the Premier League table with many of the teams below them still having a game in hand, and Slot was quick to praise his efforts players after the game.

“I couldn’t have wished for anything more today,” said the Dutchman. “I think most people would speak really positively about the second half, but when you play on this ground against a team who are in such good form, barely conceding a chance in every single game and allowing so many counter-attacks.”

“We only conceded one counter-attack in 98 minutes of football today. This is absolute dominance.”

He added: “It’s 0-1 here and it’s so hard to score against this team. That’s not what we wanted. We wanted three points, but what I want and what the fans and players should want is for them to do their best in every single game and that’s exactly what they did today.”

It was another impressive performance from Forest, although goalkeeper Mats Selz was forced into action several times in the second half to keep out Jota and Cody Gakpo.

Asked if he sees Forest as real title contenders, Slot said: “I don’t think they’re here out of luck. It is difficult for any team to play against them. They’ve already had some difficult away games, against (Manchester) United, (Man) City, Arsenal, us.

“It shows that they are a team that can compete at the top of the table.”

Slot’s opponents felt the same way about his surprise team Forest’s performance and applauded the fans for the “special atmosphere” they had created on the night.

“Tonight was a lesson for us because that’s how we want to compete,” Nuno said. “I’m very proud of how we played.

“Tonight was a special atmosphere. I’m not looking at the table at this point, we have to move on.”