Arne Slot has six guaranteed starters for Southampton – Liverpool can’t throw this away

The second part of John Aldridge’s ECHO column looks at Diogo Jota and how seriously Liverpool should be taking the Carabao Cup

The major plus point of Saturday’s draw at Anfield with Fulham was Diogo Jota’s return to action after two months out. The Portugal striker looked like he’d never been away, scoring a brilliant goal to level the score up for 2-2. It might sound a bit strange to say given Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo have been in great form in front of goal and the Reds haven’t lost a game in his absence but Jota has been missed.

Before his injury against Chelsea back on October 20, I thought he’d had a bit of an indifferent start to his season but he looked the sharpest I’ve seen him when he came on against Fulham at the weekend. His intervention was timed perfectly too.

He looked like a greyhound ready to fly out of the traps and he showed so much composure for the equaliser. He had ice in his veins when the chance came, he didn’t panic and made it look easy, which is all the more impressive when you think of how little he’s played and it was his first opportunity to score since his comeback.