Liverpool could have Diogo Jota back on Saturday when they resume their chase for the Premier League title against visiting Fulham, manager Arne Slot said, while Federico Chiesa’s return is less certain.
Jota has not played since injuring his ribs at the end of October, while Chiesa has played just 18 minutes in the Premier League since arriving from Juventus last summer due to a muscle injury. Slot said both are available.
“What (Chiesa) needs is playing time,” Slot told reporters on Friday. “If you haven’t played for five or six months, it is sometimes difficult for a manager to give him those minutes because you don’t know what to expect.
“Maybe the Southampton game (League Cup quarter-final on Wednesday) would be a good game to give him minutes. He needs to get his fitness level. He needs playing time. But it is not always easy to find these minutes.”
Liverpool have not played a league game since a 3-3 draw with Newcastle on December 4 after Storm Darragh led to their Merseyside derby against Everton being postponed. They remain four points clear at the top of the table, with a game in hand.
Slot expects a reaction from his players on Saturday on the heels of Tuesday’s 1-0 Champions League win over Girona that the boss fumed he “wasn’t pleased” with, despite maintaining their 100% record in Europe’s elite competition.
“You can’t concede the amount of opportunities we gave away in the first half. And with opportunities also mean the amount of times they could just go over our midfield, and just keep, keep on running to our 18 yard box. And if you play against even better teams, that will harm you.
“(But) these players have been outstanding in every single game. This wasn’t our best performance, but it was still good enough to win a Champions League away game. We should have a much better performance against (Fulham) than we had against Girona to be able to get a result.”
Mohamed Salah scored his team’s lone goal against Girona from the penalty spot, one of seven goals in his last six games across all competitions. He also has 13 goals in the Premier League this season, although Slot said his contribution goes beyond scoring.
“(Salah is also) working really hard for the team when we don’t have the ball,” Slot said. “I work with a lot of quality players over here, and Mo is definitely one of them, but he’s also one of the ones that should score goals like the other attackers that we have.
“So yeah, he is also part of the fact why we keep as many clean sheets as we do (a league-best seven), because we defend with 11 and we attack with 11, and he is one of the ones that is the end product of one of our attacks. And he’s doing that really well for years in a row already for Liverpool, and let’s hope he can continue doing that in the upcoming weeks as well.”
Fulham are 10th in the Premier League table.
