Sport
Liverpool Takes a Cautious Approach with Jota After Injury Return
Arne Slot has stated that Liverpool will continue to manage Diogo Jota cautiously following his return to action from a chest injury.
The Portuguese international scored a goal off the bench against Fulham earlier this month after nearly two months on the sidelines.
Since then, according to The Athletic, Jota has made three more substitute appearances for the Premier League leaders, with Slot opting to start either Luis Díaz or Darwin Núñez as the central striker in most matches.
Slot said, “We are still managing his fitness. Diogo was out for a long time and hasn’t been able to train much. Sometimes, when a player is injured, they can do a lot of work, but he wasn’t able to for a long time. Given how intense this league is, it’s not easy to come straight back into starting games after two months out. You need to build up minutes for that, and he is competing with some excellent players who are also in peak form at the moment. He’s building up gradually, and I think he’s close to starting a match, but there’s strong competition for his position as well.”
After replacing Núñez 12 minutes before the end of Thursday’s 3-1 win against Leicester City, Jota will hope to play a more significant role in Sunday’s away match against West Ham United.
Slot had initially planned to include Dominik Szoboszlai in his starting XI at London Stadium. However, the Hungarian international midfielder will serve a one-match suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season for a foul against a Leicester player.
Slot added, “Dominik Szoboszlai was outstanding against Tottenham, and the idea was for him to shine against West Ham as well, but he’s unavailable. So, someone else will need to step up and shine instead.”
The former Feyenoord manager also mentioned that Ibrahima Konaté (knee) and Conor Bradley (hamstring) remain the only players sidelined due to injury. Slot expects both players to return in January.
When asked if either could feature against Manchester United at Anfield on January 5th, Slot replied, “They won’t be back for West Ham United. Then there’s a week between matches. Let’s see how close they are by then. It’s hard to say at this moment because they haven’t started training with the group yet. Hopefully, they’ll be closer in the coming days. On the other hand, both Ibrahima and Conor have been out for about five or six weeks, and they’ll be competing with fully fit players who are performing very well, so I’ll need to make the right decision when they’re ready to return to the team.”
