Liverpoolvs.Lille

The Portugal international was a notable absentee from Saturday's 2-0 victory against Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.

A few days earlier, Jota came off the bench to score the all-important equaliser in Liverpool's away game against Nottingham Forest.

However, he ultimately picked up an injury in his appearance at the City Ground which will force him to miss Tuesday's Champions League meeting with Lille.

Slot reveals extent of Jota injury

Speaking in Monday's pre-match press conference, Slot explained that Jota will be out for 'weeks rather than months' along with Joe Gomez, who sustained a hamstring injury at the end of December.

"Maybe Diogo is just a bit earlier than Joe," Slot told reporters. "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."

Unfortunately for Jota, he is set for another spell in the treatment room after missing 11 games from October to December because of injury.

Could Jota's injury be an opportunity for Nunez to impress?

Nunez came off the bench to score two goals in stoppage time in Saturday's victory against Brentford, staking a claim to be a bigger part of Slot's plans.

The Liverpool boss has admitted that Jota's injury could present Nunez with the opportunity to gain more playing time in the next few weeks.

"I don't think it's the first time that [Nunez] in a situation like this," Slot added. "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 will be hoping to gain more valuable minutes when Liverpool look to maintain their perfect Champions League record in Tuesday's home meeting with Lille.

Written by

Ben Sully