Diogo Jota, when fit, is an important player for Liverpool who often comes up with big goals. The Portuguese star can be prone to injuries, however, causing Arne Slot to prefer other options to start up front in his side.
Despite only starting seven Premier League games this term, and coming off the bench in six other games, Jota has scored five goals and assisted another two. One of those goals was a crucial equaliser against Nottingham Forest.
He suffered an injury in that game, however, which has seen the Liverpool forward though fail to play against Brentford and Ipswich, while he was also missing for the visit to PSV in the Champions League.
Diogo Jota not expected to make Liverpool return for some time
On January 17, prior to Liverpool's game with Brentford, Slot highlighted that Jota was missing through a knock he picked up against Nottingham Forest. He failed to train and then wasn't included in the matchday squad. Three days later, Slot then suggested that, while Jota hasn't suffered a serious injury, he'll still face an amout of time on the sidelines with team-mate Joe Gomez.
"Maybe Jota [will be back] a bit earlier than Joe," Slot said. "Both of them are expected to be back with us in weeks rather than months. He overloaded a certain muscle."
Liverpool reporter David Lynch then revealed on Tuesday earlier this week, during the Reds' open training session at the training ground ahead of the squad flying out to the Netherlands to face PSV, that Jota wasn't involved. He was, however, keen to stress that the 28-year-old won't face an extended period out.
“Unfortunately no Diogo Jota, but we do hope he will be back soon,” Lynch said.
“Obviously he’s got a niggle of his own that he’s dealing through. Arne Slot made it sound like he and Gomez were on a similar trajectory in terms of recovery, but it can differ over those final days of the rehabilitation, he always is at pains to express that.
“So, we’ll have to see what that means in terms of him coming back. But the hope is that he’ll be back soon. No Curtis Jones either. Maybe he’ll be out for a couple games more, but we hope not.”
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