Jamie Carragher thinks Roberto Firmino has been “fortunate” to keep his place in the Liverpool side with Diogo Jota being out injured for so long.
Firmino has only scored one goal in his last 16 matches, stretching all the way back to the festive period.
He has kept his place in the side despite criticism of his performances with Divock Origi and Xherdan Shaqiri unable to provide suitable competition.
FEATURE: The race for the top four: Why they will, why they won’t
The Brazilian’s poor form has coincided with the Reds’ terrible run, with only one win in seven Premier League matches seeing them slide down the table into eighth position.
Jota has returned to the Liverpool side recently and Carragher expects the summer purchase from Wolves to remain in the side.
“I think Firmino has been fortunate that Jota has been out for so long because I think he was on the verge of breaking that front three up, really,” Carragher told CBS Sports.
Asked whether it’s Jota’s opportunity to grab a regular role, Carragher said: “Yes, I mean I have been calling for [Jota to start over Firmino] that a while.
“It’s just interesting that he went central. I think, at the weekend, it was Salah who went through the middle and Jota was in a wide position.
“But Jota is a bigger goal threat, right at this moment. We know Firmino brings other things.
“‘But to just think that Liverpool need to get as many goalscorers as possible on the pitch because the midfield players don’t score, the full-backs create and they have lost Van Dijk. Jota needs to be on that pitch.”
Liverpool did bounce back from their Premier League defeat against Fulham at the weekend with a 4-0 aggregate victory over RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Wednesday.
And Georginio Wijnaldum reckons that victory could help them improve their form in the Premier League, starting with Wolves on Monday.
“It helps to get confidence back when you have results and especially when you play a good game,” Wijnaldum told liverpoolfc.com.
“But it’s not a guarantee that you’re going to win the next couple of games, so we just have to realise that we have to give everything and work even harder than before to get the results back that we had before.
“So we’re happy with this and it will give us confidence, but we know that we still have to do a lot of work to win a lot of games in a row.”
The post Carragher names Liverpool man who’s ‘fortunate’ to keep his place appeared first on Football365.com.