Jurgen Klopp is leaning towards making a change to the front-three which started Liverpool’s last Premier League game.
Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah began the match at Brighton two weeks ago. But with tomorrow’s Merseyside Derby now looming large, the manager is set to shuffle his pack.
That’s according to the Liverpool ECHO anyway. They claim that there’s a ‘strong chance’ that Diogo Jota finds himself back in the starting XI tomorrow.
Of course, the reason for Jota’s absence against the Seagulls wasn’t performance related. The 26-year-old was serving the one-match ban he picked up for his costly red card against Tottenham the week before.
Now that that’s out of the way, it’s claimed that Jota could very well make his return at Anfield.
And although the Portugal international has been in good form, his return to the line-up reportedly may not be totally down to that.
Diaz and Nunez have both returned from long trips to South America this week. Meanwhile, Cody Gakpo is only just back in training after three weeks out injured. As a result, it’s claimed that Jota is highly likely to get the nod.
He may not be the most glamorous or exciting of Liverpool’s forward options, but Jota is still one of the most efficient.
Having famously gone through a 373-day goal scoring drought last season, the former Wolves man has now shaken off that monkey pretty emphatically.
The ECHO actually include some very interesting statistics in their report from today, which highlight why Jota should be in Liverpool’s team regardless of other circumstances.
Scoring at a rate of a goal every 117 minutes this season, the Reds’ £45m man is seeing less time between his goals than any other Liverpool forward.
Having been through that lengthy drought last campaign, Jota has also burst into life since. The ECHO report that Liverpool have played 20 games since Jota brough that barren run to an end in April against Leeds United.
In that time, Jota has scored 11 goals. This is just one behind Salah, who has 12 in the same period. For reference, Gakpo has six goals and Nunez five.
So, although his inclusion may not get bums off seats at Anfield tomorrow, don’t bet against Diogo burying one against the Blues. We’d love to see it.
