Arne Slot doesn’t expect to have Liverpool attacker Diogo Jota back available until December.
The Portugal international has missed the past five matches since suffering a chest injury in last month’s win over Chelsea at Anfield.
Jota will continue his rehab during the international break but is unlikely to be available for the Champions League clash with Real Madrid at Anfield on November 27 or the visit of Manchester City four days later.
“The first weeks after the international break we expect Diogo back,“ Slot said.
“I always say in Holland there is privacy about this (the nature of the injury), I don’t know how it is over here. He will be back one or two weeks after the international break.”
Darwin Nunez is expected to return to the starting line up against Aston Villa at Anfield on Saturday after Luis Diaz excelled in a central role in the 4-0 win against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday, hitting a hat-trick.
Slot must also decide whether to change the personnel in midfield after Curtis Jones grasped his chance to impress in place of Dominik Szoboszlai.
Jones’ recent form was recognised on Thursday with an England call-up for their Nations League games against Greece and Republic of Ireland.
Slot said: “Since the moment Curtis became a father, he’s put in great performances and I had nothing to do with that!
“He also did very well in the first few weeks we worked together and then his performances dropped a bit. Recently he’s been outstanding again.
“He has a lot of qualities on the ball. He’s never afraid to do something special with it. Sometimes that led to situations where he touched the ball a bit too much as he was a bit over confident.
“But he combines that confidence with a hard work rate. You can trust him in defence as well. He’s quite complete. Now for him it’s all about consistency. The best players in the world show up every three days. That’s what he has to show now.”
Slot has enjoyed a record-breaking start to his Liverpool reign with 14 wins in 16 games in all competitions so far.
“Surprise isn’t the right word to use because I knew the quality of our team,“ he added.
“But quality is one thing, to be consistent is another. I’m not trying to manage expectations with the squad because we don’t talk about expectations. The only expectation I have is that they continue to work this hard every day. That’s all we focus on. I’m not asking them to win every game but I’m hoping they do.
“It’s not the first time that this club has been where it is at the moment. For most of these players it’s a normal situation. They don’t get carried away with us being top of the league as they know how small the margins are.
“If the fans being excited means they bring the kind of atmosphere they did in the second half against Brighton and against Leverkusen then I’m hoping they will stay excited.”
(Michael Steele/Getty Images)
