Arne Slot has confirmed Diogo Jota has suffered a muscle injury as the Liverpool boss backs Darwin Nunez to deputise for the Portugal striker in the coming weeks
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| Arne Slot head coach of Liverpool during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD7 press conference at AXA Melwood Training Centre on January 20, 2025(Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images) |
Arne Slot has confirmed Diogo Jota has suffered a muscle injury that will keep him sidelined for "weeks not months" as he tipped Darwin Nunez to deputise for the Portugal international striker.
Jota will play no part in Liverpool's visit from Lille in the Champions League on Tuesday after suffering another injury having only returned last month from an upper body problem that was picked up in October's victory over Chelsea.
The No.20 scored after 22 seconds of his arrival in last week's 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest but suffered the latest issue in that game and sat out the 2-0 triumph at Brentford, which came via Nunez's stoppage-time brace on Saturday afternoon.
Asked for an update on Jota's latest issue, Slot said it would keep him on the shelf until next month, while he also offered a short update on Joe Gomez's own situation after a hamstring problem at West Ham United on December 29.
"Maybe Diogo is just a bit earlier than Joe," Slot said. "And both of them are expected to be back with us in weeks, not in months. But I've said many times before that the last stage of rehab is the most difficult one, or the one that can sometimes add a few days or not. Diogo overloaded a certain muscle a bit.
"I don't think it's the first time that [Nunez] in a situation like this. Even this season he's been in a situation like it. Jota has been out when in the Chelsea game someone hit him so hard that he was out for five, six, seven, eight weeks, I think. So that was a similar moment.
"And I know from the past that he's had long run-off games with Jurgen (Klopp) as well. But he is probably, as you guys say, in a good place now because he scored two. And so, yeah, of course it's simple.
"At the moment we've got four attackers that are top fit and able to start the game. And Darwin is one of them. And then the fifth one is Federico Chiesa. And the sixth one is he's not ready to start 90 yet, in my opinion. But he's coming closer and closer to be able to do so.
"The reason why he isn't is because he hasn't had many minutes yet. So it's not about him. It's about me not giving him so many minutes. So it's difficult for him then all of a sudden to go from five minutes to 90 minutes. So, yeah, that increases the chance for Darwin, of course, to get more playing time if one of the six is injured. And especially if it's a No.9."
Nunez was fortunate to avoid a second caution at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday after a mistimed challenge on Nathan Collins having already been booked for removing his shirt in celebration of the opening goal.
And while Slot conceded the Uruguay international was lucky on Saturday, he thinks the decision had no impact on the overall result considering it came in the final seconds of the match in west London.
"I'm almost happy that you asked me this question because he would have been sent off after 2-0, so not everybody is saying that's why they won and they were lucky," Slot said. "No, I can come up with a few decisions that went against us where we didn't get the points maybe, but let's not get into that.
"I think the most difficult thing in football is for a team, but also as an individual, to find consistency. Only a few players in the world are able to be at the same level every three days in a row. And then there's a big, big, big group of players that are able to play very good many times, but not every single time.
"And I think he's one of the players that belongs to the group that is good many, many, many times. But the next step for him would be nice if he can go into the bracket of the five, six, seven or eight players in the world that are outstanding every three days.
"And I do know we also have one or two players that are very high standard every three days. It's a nice challenge for him to go to that group of players as well."
- Paul Gorst
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