Jürgen Klopp pleased with progress of 'super-important' Diogo Jota

Jürgen Klopp is pleased with the form of Diogo Jota since his return from a long-term injury and is convinced the forward is getting closer to his best level once again.

Two separate fitness issues have meant the Portugal international has been restricted to 18 appearances in all competitions for Liverpool so far in 2022-23 and is still looking for his first goal of the season.

Nevertheless, Klopp is satisfied with the performances Jota has delivered since returning in February and feels he will be 'super-important' in the Reds' final 10 fixtures of the term.

The manager told his pre-Arsenal press conference: "I thought Diogo did really well since he was back because he was injured for really long and for that, the level of performance he produced I really like.

"It was good against Chelsea, he closed the right side really well, he is offensively a threat again. He has not the foundation physically to go and go and go and go yet because of the long injury.

"Diogo is a really good player; we missed him a lot during this season. We missed Lucho [Luis Diaz] as well, a lot, for big parts of the season.

"As I said, from next week on Lucho hopefully as well, completely normal, and Diogo is back, which is absolutely helpful.

"For him, this year is not the year he will remember as the best year of his life because he was injured for the majority of it, but for us it is now the last few games we have and he is super-important."

He added: "He is a super-mature boy, super. Really dealing well with difficulties and setbacks. It was really impressive for the age he is in."

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