There was brilliant news for Liverpool fans yesterday, as their injured players returned to the fold.
Throughout the last six weeks or so – and even longer really – supporters have been anxiously awaiting the comeback of three key players.
Liverpool have done pretty well in the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota and Alisson Becker. But they’d have surely been doing even better with them all fit and available.
Opinions will probably differ on which of the trio the Reds have missed the most. Alexander-Arnold was in terrific shape when he got injured, as was Alisson. But in our opinion, it’s Jota’s exit from the team which Liverpool have really felt the most.
The 27-year-old was in the form of his life when he went down against Brentford in February. In the meantime, the Reds have lacked a certain clinical edge. Well, just in case we’d forgotten, Jota showed his famous goal-scoring instincts at the AXA Training Centre yesterday.
What did Diogo Jota do in training yesterday
How Liverpool could have done with Jota during Sunday’s frustrating 2-2 draw against Manchester United.
In fact, you get the feeling that had the Portugal international been available, the Reds would have two more Premier League points and would still be in the FA Cup. They should have buried United on both occasions.
That they didn’t was largely because of wastefulness in front of goal. Jota’s finishing is perhaps his best attribute. He could certainly have helped with that.
Thankfully, it looks like Diogo’s ability to find the net with ease hasn’t been lost during his injury lay-off. As seen by a video posted by Liverpool’s official X account yesterday, the Reds’ No.20 has still got it.
Shifting the ball onto his right foot in the clip, Jota absolutely leathers a drilled effort into the top corner of the net. How we’ve missed that. Lovely.
How many goals has Diogo Jota scored this season
Although he’s missed Liverpool’s last 11 matches, Jota is still one of their top scorers this season.
Mohamed Salah obviously sits top of the pile, having found the net 23 times. Darwin Nunez has also scored more than Diogo, with 18 currently to his name.
However, those two are the only members of the Liverpool squad to have outscored the Portuguese in 2023/24. Cody Gakpo is level with Jota – on 14 – but here’s the thing, Gakpo has played 45 times this season. Jota has made just 28 appearances. There’s your difference.
Bearing in mind that Luis Diaz has 13 from 42 games, and you can really see how much Liverpool have missed their No.20. If this clip is anything to go by, he’ll be adding to that tally just as soon as he gets back out there.