Jota offers
Liverpool a Firmino alternative, Southampton enjoy away trips and Olsen’s Everton debut ups the ante for Pickford
Anyone suggesting a member of Liverpool’s established attacking trio would find their place under threat at the start of the season would have been accused of heresy, and rightly so, but that is the position Roberto Firmino finds himself in with Diogo Jota making an immediate impact at Anfield. The Portugal international has improved the competition and the options in the final third for Jürgen Klopp, and opposition defences require even greater levels of concentration and energy against the champions in the process. Against West Ham, when Jota replaced the Brazilian and scored for the third successive game at Anfield, Klopp offered a glimpse of an alternative front three with the £41m signing on the left,
Mohamed Salah moving into the middle and Sadio Mané switching to the right. “Mo and Sadio were making exceptional runs and we needed connected movements, that’s why we made the change,” explained Klopp. “It’s not nice for defenders.”Andy Hunter