[ad_1]
Liverpool make the journey to the northeast this night for his or her Premier League conflict in opposition to Newcastle United at St James’ Park, and Jurgen Klopp will probably be hoping that his facet can take some confidence and momentum from their first league victory of 2023 within the Merseyside derby final Monday.
The Reds are at the moment ninth within the desk after a run of poor performances over their first 21 top-flight outings, however taking all three factors away may see them considerably the hole between themselves and the highest 4.
Klopp will probably be thrilled to see quite a lot of gamers getting back from long-term accidents during the last week, with Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino making their first appearances in months after they have been launched within the second half in opposition to Everton earlier this week.
Virgil van Dijk can be anticipated to return to motion after recovering from a hamstring harm which has rendered him unavailable for choice for the reason that first week of January.
Consequently, Klopp has quite a lot of choices in his squad heading into the conflict in opposition to Newcastle, and unleashing Jota within the ahead line may very well be the transfer which helps Liverpool to select up their second consecutive win.
Will Jota begin in opposition to Newcastle?
The Portuguese winger has been out of motion since he was stretchered off the pitch in stoppage time in opposition to Manchester Metropolis in October, however after struggling a long-term hamstring harm, his latest return couldn’t have come at a greater time for the Reds.
Forward of the 2-0 win in opposition to Everton this week, Liverpool had scored simply one league purpose in 2023, which got here in opposition to Brentford in a 3-1 defeat on 2nd January, with new signing Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah struggling to seek out the web for the reason that flip of the yr.
Klopp can now unleash a recent possibility in Jota who just isn’t solely skilled but in addition prolific within the workforce since his arrival on the membership in 2020, scoring 34 targets and registering 14 assists in his 94 appearances for the Merseyside giants.
Ought to Jota begin vs Newcastle as we speak?
Sure
No
Moreover, the £140k-per-week star – who was dubbed a “urgent monster” by Pep Lijnders – has previous expertise of inflicting chaos for the Magpies, with two targets and one help in six earlier outings in opposition to Newcastle.
Certainly, he netted the equaliser within the 3-1 win over them at Anfield final season and arrange Naby Keita’s winner on this fixture ten months in the past, when the Reds have been chasing down the league title.
If Jota is able to begin at St James’ Park later as we speak, it will give Liverpool’s attacking menace a big enhance and will give them a super alternative to safe the much-needed factors to climb the desk.
[ad_2]
Source_link