Jermain Defoe says £41m Liverpool player was absolutely brilliant vs Nottingham Forest

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Jermain Defoe has heaped praise on Liverpool forward Diogo Jota after he bagged a brace against Nottingham Forest yesterday.

Jurgen Klopp’s men kept their slim hopes of finishing inside the top-four alive with a 3-2 win at Anfield on Saturday afternoon.

Liverpool certainly made hard work for themselves as they allowed Forest back into the game with some sloppy defending.

Diogo Jota opened the scoring just after half-time with a well-taken header, but Steve Cooper’s men hit back instantly through former Liverpool youngster Neco Williams.

The Portuguese forward bagged his second of the game with a brilliant finish and despite Morgan Gibbs White’s equaliser, Mohamed Salah’s effort in the 70th minute proved to be the difference between the sides.

Liverpool picked up a deserved win and Klopp will be encouraged by Jota’s display in particular. 

The £41 million forward seems to have rediscovered his scoring touch at the perfect time after a lengthy spell on the sidelines. 

And Jermain Defoe was certainly impressed with his display at Anfield yesterday.

Defoe praises ‘brilliant’ Jota

Speaking on Match of the Day, the former Tottenham man admitted that he’s a huge fan of Jota and was particularly impressed with his finishing yesterday. 

“He’s someone I’ve always admired, to be honest,” Defoe said. “Even during his time at Wolves, he scored a lot of goals.

“I feel like Liverpool have missed him this season. I’ve admired him, he’s a brilliant player. You see in these clips how effective he can be.

“You see him here at the back post, you look at his profile, he’s only 5 ft 10. [He] makes first contact here, unlucky.

“Here you see where the goal comes from, first one to be alive and that’s a brave header. He sees the defenders number and gets in-front there and gets the goal.”

He added: “Clever movement [for his second goal], getting into that zone where you’re going to score goals and really impressed by this finish – to improvise and get the finish across the goalkeeper is fantastic.

“He probably couldn’t believe the amount of time he got but to be composed like that when you’ve been out for such a long time and finish.”

“He was fantastic today, really sharp. Really impressed,” he added. 

Jota had looked well off the pace after returning from injury, but Klopp has stuck by him over the likes of Darwin Nunez. 

It’s certainly paying off for both Jota and Liverpool at the moment as they are yet to lose since the end of March.

The Reds seem to be hitting form at the right time and while yesterday’s win wasn’t exactly convincing, it keeps their hopes of securing a Champions League spot well and truly alive.