Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson thinks Diogo Jota has earned the chance to start up front against Manchester City in the Premier League this Sunday.
The £45m Portuguese striker followed up last weekend's winner against West Ham by scoring a hat-trick in the Reds' 5-0 thrashing of Atalanta in the Champions League last night.
Speaking on this morning's OTB AM, Lawrenson made the case for the 23-year-old remaining in the starting 11 for Sunday's trip to the Etihad.
"I think I would play Jota. What he's done and the quality of his goals, his play and his awareness of how Liverpool play and the two guys around him, I would play him.
"Firmino probably thinks week-in, week-out, that he's an absolute shoo-in but now he's having a little look around the dressing room and thinking 'my goodness, I'm struggling for my place'.
"That's what you have to have. You have to have that pressure for places, you can't have people who think that regardless of how they play, they're going to be in the team.
"I think Jota has to start and Klopp is a fantastic man manager and he'll be thinking if he leaves him out then he might knock his confidence. He deserves a place in the side and the whole thing is if you get in the team and play extremely well then you don't get out - that's the first rule of football.
"I'd have him straight through the middle with Salah and Mane on either side and Firmino sits on the bench. It's football, that's the way it is."
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