Jurgen Klopp says £45m Liverpool player has picked up injury vs West Ham

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Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool forward Diogo Jota picked up a ‘bad knock’ against West Ham United on Wednesday.

Jota took a hefty blow in the back from Vladimir Coufal early on in the game at the London Stadium. It initially looked like something that might end the 26-year-old’s game early, but he soldiered on until the 59th minute.

Speaking in his pre-Tottenham press conference today though, Klopp admitted that Liverpool would have to monitor whether Jota will be ready for Sunday.

“From the last game, Diogo got a bad knock in his back,” said the manager. “But should be alright, we’ll see that, how that develops. Apart from that, we should be okay.”

Should Jota not be ready in time to face Spurs, Klopp will have either Luis Diaz or Darwin Nunez to choose from. It could be worse.

Jota forced to give up starting spot

Given the options available to Klopp right now, we’d expect Jota to sit out of Sunday’s game initially. If he recovers in time he’ll likely be on the bench. But with Diaz and Nunez both pushing to start, there’s no need to risk the Portugal international.

Besides, plenty of fans would probably prefer to see one of the South Americans on Liverpool’s left anyway. Jota has done well in recent games, bagging back-to-back double against Leeds United and Nottingham Forest.

Those goals appear to have fired him into Klopp’s best XI right now, and he had more chances on Wednesday night. As it often has this season though, Jota’s finishing left a lot to be desired against West Ham.

Maybe he was still suffering the effects of Coufal’s bruising tackle, but he sliced a brilliant chance to put the Reds 2-1 up over the bar.

Just after that Jota also could have done a little better when trying to get on the end of Jordan Henderson’s flicked header. It was just too high for him in the end, but had he been more on his toes Jota would have easily scored.

So, we won’t be too upset if the £45m man has to drop out for this one. He’s simply frustrated too much of late. Get Diaz or Nunez out there and see what they can do.