Forest had found themselves under waves of early pressure, but broke forward in the eighth minute and gave an already vociferous home support reason to erupt, as Anthony Elanga slipped the ball through for Chris Wood to finish clinically across Allison Becker with his weak foot.
Murillo came agonisingly close to a scoring spectacular second moments later, before Callum Hudson-Odoi’s deflected shot was routinely gathered by Alisson.
Liverpool largely regained control of possession but struggled to break down a Forest side that was resilient and organised in equal measure, as Luis Díaz resorted to a speculative shot from range that sailed off target and Neco Williams did brilliantly to stop Dominik Szoboszlai’s header.
There was a moment shortly after the half-hour where it looked as though the hosts could be caught out on the break, although Murillo did superbly to stand up to Díaz and ensure the Colombian’s pass didn’t reach Cody Gakpo as Slot and his team grew increasingly frustrated.
Nuno Espírito Santo’s men remained typically difficult to play against after the restart as Murillo stepped across well to block Szoboszlai’s attempt.
Another sign of the hosts’ solidity is that it took 59 minutes for Mohamed Salah to hit his first shot, which was dragged wide.
Elanga’s threatening free-kick at the other end was palmed away by Alisson, but Slot’s double change in the 66th minute paid immediate dividends as Kostas Tsimikas’ corner was headed in by Diogo Jota with his side’s first shot on target of the match.
Matz Sels made two massive saves to ensure Jota couldn’t inflict any further damage, before Elliot Anderson blocked Salah’s strike.
Sels then got down well to guide Szoboszlai’s shot wide and leaped to tip Salah’s attempt over, before the Egyptian’s strike was blocked on the line by Ola Aina.
Sels’ heroics - which continued with another spectacular save to stop Gakpo - meant Forest went an eighth consecutive match unbeaten to go second in the PL table, at least for now, and remain six points behind Liverpool - even if their seven-game winning streak was ended.
While the Reds remain unbeaten in the league since these sides met at Anfield in September and sit top of the pack, there may be concern that they have just one win from the last four matches across all competitions.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Murillo (Nottingham Forest)