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Diogo Jota will be out for several weeks with a muscle problem as the striker faces a second spell on the sidelines this season.
The Portugal international, who spent seven weeks on the sidelines in autumn with a rib injury, missed Saturday’s win at Brentford and will sit out Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Lille.
Liverpool are likely to be without him for matches including their Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Tottenham and the rearranged Merseyside derby at Goodison Park while they will have to wait and see if he is fit for next month’s trip to Manchester City.
Manager Arne Slot expects Jota to return before defender Joe Gomez, who has a hamstring injury and has not featured in Liverpool’s last five matches.
“Jota maybe a bit earlier than Joe, both of them are expected to be back with us in weeks rather than months,” said Slot. “The last stage of rehab is the most difficult one and the one which can add a few days or not.
“We are expecting them to be back with us in the coming weeks but both of them are not going to be out for long, as long as the rehab goes as planned. Jota overloaded a muscle.”
Jota has scored eight goals this season but has only started 11 games. In his absence, Slot has often used Luis Diaz as a centre forward while Darwin Nunez, who scored two goals as a substitute at Brentford, offers another option.
“At the moment we have four attackers who are top fit and ready to start and the fifth one is Federico [Chiesa], he is not ready to start but he is closer to do so,” added Slot. “So that increases the chance for Darwin to get more playing time if one of the six is injured and especially if it is a No 9.”
Liverpool are the only team with a 100 percent record in the Champions League and Slot hopes to keep it going for their remaining group games against Lille and PSV Eindhoven.
He added: “It is a motivation that we want to keep it going to the end.”
