Liverpool manager Arne Slot has confirmed that he expects Diogo Jota to be sidelined for weeks rather than months.

The Portuguese forward netted a crucial equaliser for Liverpool in their recent 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest at The City Ground – his fifth Premier League goal of the season – and had plenty of other chances to win the game after coming on as a second-half substitute.

The 28-year-old, a £45m signing from Wolverhampton Wanderers in September 2020, has netted 64 times in 164 appearances across all competitions for Liverpool, but has spent ten separate spells on the sidelines during his time on Merseyside.

He was ruled out of the weekend’s dramatic 2-0 win over Brentford – a game that saw Darwin Nunez score twice in stoppage-time – and Slot has confirmed that Jota won’t be fit to take on Lille in the Champions League on Tuesday.

“Maybe Jota [will be back] a bit earlier than Joe [Gomez],” the Dutchman told reporters. “Both of them are expected to be back with us in weeks rather than months.

“But I’ve said many times before that the last stage of rehab is the most difficult one, or the one that sometimes [can] add a few days or not. It’s clear that we are expecting them to be back with us in the upcoming weeks.

“It is always difficult to say exactly how long it is. Both of them are not going to be out for months, that’s for sure, as long as the rehab goes as planned.”

Slot then confirmed that Jota’s latest issue was muscle related, which is a common theme of his Liverpool career. The 28-year-old missed 12 games across a near two-month period between October and December with a similar problem, easing his way back into the team as a substitute before earning a start in the FA Cup third round win over Accrington Stanley.

Liverpool are expected to start Nunez up front in midweek, having all but secured their place in the knockout stages of the revamped Champions League.