‘Perfect signing’ Jota lifts Reds to victory

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp praised Diogo Jota after he scored twice in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Southampton, describing the Portugal forward as the “perfect signing”.

Jota scored the fastest Premier League goal this season when he found the net after 97 seconds and added another in the first half as Liverpool moved up to second place in the Premier League standings.

The 24-year-old has scored 21 goals in 46 appearances for Liverpool since joining them from fellow Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers in September 2020.

“Diogo, exceptional player, exceptional boy,” Klopp told reporters on Saturday. “It was for us... a perfect signing because he has everything that a Liverpool player in this squad needs.

“He has the technical skills, the physical skills, and he is very smart and can learn all the tactical stuff pretty quick.”

Apart from defeat by West Ham earlier this month, Liverpool have been in imperious form of late and were simply too good for Southampton as they moved above Manchester City into second place, a point behind Chelsea.

Jota steered home Andrew Robertson’s cutback to open the scoring after 97 seconds before another simple finish, following fine work from Mohamed Salah, put Liverpool two goals up and in command inside 32 minutes.

Midfielder Thiago added to his stunning goal against Porto in the Champions League in midweek with a third five minutes later and Virgil van Dijk helped himself to a fourth against his former club early in the second half.

Meanwhile, former Reds skipper Steven Gerrard enjoyed a second consecutive win as Aston Villa manager.

Villa followed up their victory over Brighton & Hove Albion last week in Gerrard’s first game in charge with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace, with Matt Targett and John McGinn scoring.

Newcastle United’s new manager Eddie Howe took his place on the touchline for the first time after missing last week’s draw against Brentford because of a positive Covid-19 test, but saw his side lose 2-0 away at Arsenal. Goals by Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli sealed the points for Arsenal.