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Jamie Carragher has claimed that Diogo Jota has to start for Liverpool, as his goals help to ease the pressure off Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.

Jota, who joined from Wolverhampton Wanderers for £41million (BBC) in the summer, has made a blistering start to his career at Anfield and is forcing his way into XI.

The Portuguese attacker started the weekend’s 1-1 Premier League draw against Manchester City and slotted into Jurgen Klopp’s side as a right-winger, but he’s got the flexibility to play anywhere across the forward line.

He’s scored seven goals in his opening 11 Liverpool appearances and the 23-year-old has so much potential.

Sky Sports pundit and ex-Reds defender Carragher has pointed out that Liverpool don’t have a goalscoring midfielder in their side, citing Premier League legends Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard as prime examples of that.

The likes of Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Fabinho and Thiago are all central midfielders with plenty of work-rate and quality with the ball, but are certainly not box-to-box goalscorers.

Carragher feels that Jota gives them the extra goal threat in the final third that they need, especially as centre-forward Roberto Firmino is currently struggling to score regularly and he’s suggested that he’s given a few games on the bench.

“The reason why I’d play Jota is because Liverpool don’t have many goalscorers,” he told talkSPORT.

“Virgil van Dijk is a goal-scorer from set pieces, the midfield three don’t really score, there’s no Gerrard or Lampard figure in there. The centre-forward’s not scoring. If you put Jota in there then it takes the pressure off Mane and Salah.”

He added: “It doesn’t mean if he (Firmino) goes out and Jota goes in that that’s the end of his career. He should just sit on the bench for three or four games.”

TBR’s View:

It would’ve been laughed at pre-season if someone suggested that Jota would dislodge Firmino from the best Liverpool XI, but that is seeming like a reality now.

German boss Klopp proved against Man City that he can play both alongside ever-presents Mane and Salah, but it’ll be interesting to see if he wants to move away from a formation that has served them so well in the past couple of years.

It’s a great point that Liverpool are very much reliant on their world-class wingers Mane and Salah to convert their chances, which is why they look an even more potent and dangerous attack when you add an in-form Jota.