If there is a more intoxicating and beguiling place to watch Premier League football than the City Ground this season then it must have hidden itself.

Once again here a capacity crowd bore witness to another night carved from Nottingham Forest's great traditions. The team in Garibaldi red punching upwards, steadfastly refusing to bow to expectations or hierarchy. A certain bloke in an old green jumper would have loved it.

Brian Clough's Forest used to turn people over regularly here in the 70s and 80s. Liverpool in particular used to hate it. Nuno Espirito Santo's Forest couldn't quite do it this time. They couldn't quite turn six league wins on the bounce into seven.

Indeed by the end Forest were hanging on, clinging to imaginary branches as a Liverpool tidal wave washed over them. By full-time, their goalkeeper Matz Sels had announced himself as their best player.

But at the same time this was a scare for Liverpool. Forest's rope-a-dope tactics had bounced them into an early lead as their centre forward Chris Wood broke away to score. Liverpool, the league leaders, were rattled. They were unsure and anxious. Lots and lots of possession - 71 per cent of it by full-time - but for the first hour at least not a single shot on target.

Substitute Diogo Jota changed that within 22 seconds of coming on. His header from a corner levelled the scores. And after that it was all Liverpool.

Even so, Arne Slot's team will be satisfied. They have to be. They didn't lose and they easily could have. They were utterly without precision, calm or imagination up until the moment Jota scored. And, importantly, title rivals Chelsea and Manchester City – yes, them – failed to win their games.

If Arsenal don't beat Tottenham at the Emirates on Wednesday night then Liverpool will emerge from this cluster of fixtures with all things equal. Right now, that's all that matters.

What a game, though. What an atmosphere. What a riot. Liverpool came here knowing exactly what Forest would do but not until the home team's legs started to tire in the later stages did they even come close to working their opponents out. Sels went from rather unemployed to man of the match in about 25 minutes and that rather summed it all up.

Earlier on, it was easy to categorise what was happening. One team with all the ball but the other with all the ideas.

There is no secret to how Forest play. They have been doing it all season. Possession means nothing to Nuno's team. It's what they do when they do have the ball that matters.

The first eight minutes of the game encapsulated that perfectly. Liverpool had all of the play during that time. Forest simply sat off them and didn't try to engage. Slot's team looked comfortable and progressive and may even have scored as twice they shot from distance and then Ryan Gravenberch moved on to a short pass from Mo Salah and clipped a shot over the bar from 12 yards.

Had you dropped in from another planet, you may have wondered what all this was all about. A game of two teams with only one really playing. And then, with their very first foray into the Liverpool defensive third, Forest scored.

The conception of the goal was to be found on halfway where Callum Hudson-Odoi – scorer of the goal when Forest won at Anfield back in early autumn – won a tussle with Salah. After that Anthony Elanga fed Wood through the middle and the New Zealander ran away from Virgil van Dijk to slide a shot across Alisson Becker and into the far corner.

It was classic Forest. A classic counter. From Liverpool's point of view, it was a dreadful goal. Van Dijk was positioned three yards behind his defensive colleagues in playing Wood onside while Alisson was too close to his near post. He made it easier for the scorer than it may have been.

Liverpool had plenty of time to make amends but for too long did nothing with it. Their choices in the final third were awful. Hopeful shots from distance. Poor passes. The Forest back four – in which the Brazilian Murillo was outstanding – lapped it up.

They started the second half just as poorly but Jota was sent on in the 66th minute and scored immediately. A deep corner found him somehow in space between Murillo and Wood and he headed in from six yards.

With that, everything changed. Forest started to engage higher up the field and that in turn allowed Liverpool some space.

Twice Sels saved from Jota – the second one with his thigh was world class – and he then touched a Cody Gakpo drive wide and similarly denied Dominik Szoboszlai. Right at the death, meanwhile, he tipped over a Salah curler and then, from the corner, Forest right-back Ola Aina cleared a low drive from the Egyptian off the line.

In the middle of all that Salah may have had a penalty but strangely there was no appeal, no whistle and no interest from VAR. Odd.

So by the end everybody went home with something. Liverpool with a point, Forest with their pride and belief intact and everybody else with a thrumming heart rate they would have been able to feel in their ears.

By full-time it had become fractured, fractious and utterly compelling. When's the next one? Does anyone have a ticket?