Arne Slot has ruled Diogo Jota out of contention for a starting place against Southampton, with the Liverpool striker “not completely fit” after his return.
Jota came off the bench to score a decisive second goal in the 2-2 draw with Fulham on Saturday, having spent almost two months out with a rib injury.
That raised expectations that the Portuguese would then make his first start back in the Carabao Cup quarter-final at Southampton, but Slot has already ruled that out.
The head coach revealed in his pre-match press conference that Jota was “not completely fit” after the weekend and had then missed team training.
“Diogo would have been definitely one that was ideal for him to play, but after the game he wasn’t completely fit, so he didn’t train with us yesterday,” Slot explained.
“So let’s see if he can train with us today. Don’t expect him to start.
“Hopefully he can make some minutes, but don’t expect him to start tomorrow.”
Slot is, at least, planning to make a number of changes to his side at St Mary’s, with Caoimhin Kelleher confirmed to start and Wataru Endo one of those to also come in.
“That is for me the positive thing about the League Cup,” he continued.
“You’ve seen until now, we haven’t played with many starters yet, so it’s mostly been a game where the ones that haven’t played that much started the game. That’s really important.
“For the likes of Wata Endo for example, he hasn’t played that much but fortunately for us he plays for his national team, and the few times he can play in the League Cup helps him to keep his rhythm as well.”
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