January saw a disrupted footballing schedule, with a winter break coinciding with Carabao Cup semi-final matches and FA Cup games taking up the attention. Despite this, most clubs played around 3-4 games this month and there was still plenty of footballing action to soak up, domestically and abroad with AFCON and Asian Cup action taking place.

This months NextGoalWinner player of the month winner has been a tougher selection due to the disrupted schedule and missing talent at international tournaments, however purely based on Premier League performances, we have made our selection based on the start of 2024, and we will mention the domestic cups but focus as always primarily on league outings.

Diogo Jota stepped up in January as Liverpool continued to fight on all fronts, yet lost their talismanic figure of Salah to AFCON and then subsequent injury. With this potentially a moment to de-rail their season, and then throw in the Klopp departure announcement, and Liverpool’s season could well have capitulated in this month. That may well have occurred, if it wasn’t for the efforts of Diogo Jota, who truly showed quality in January as he moved into a more regular role in Salah’s absence, and his goals/assists and overall contributions have led Liverpool to the Carabao Cup final, FA Cup 5th round and top of the league to go along with their Europa League knockout games to come.

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Match By Match

January 1st: Liverpool 4-2 Newcastle United – With the New Year getting off to a strong start for Liverpool as they continue to battle across all fronts, they were heavily dominated against the exhausted Newcastle side. With Salah making up for his early missed penalty, he took control of the game in his final outing for Liverpool before departing for AFCON. Despite having full control of the game, Liverpool were being held at 1-1 until the 70th minute, by which point Diogo Jota had been brought in as a fresh option up top, replacing Luis Diaz in a triple change. Just 10 minutes later, it was Jota who set up the changing goal as Curtis Jones made it 2-1, allowing Liverpool to relax and make the most of their dominance, eventually ending as 4-2 victors. Although only playing 25 minutes, he got a vital assist that changed the game, and also had a strong cameo appearance, with 1 shot, 2 chances created, winning the penalty that Salah scored to make it 4 and also winning 6 duels which demonstrated the overall impact of his substitution.

January 21st: Bournemouth 0-4 Liverpool – After a few weeks detour to beat Arsenal in the FA Cup and Fulham in the Carabao Cup semi-final 1st leg (in which Jota played 31 minutes and got an assist vs Arsenal, and played the full 90 against Fulham), Liverpool returned to league action with a strong and confident performance against a Bournemouth side who had been on a great run of form in recent weeks. It was Diogo Jota’s afternoon as he bagged a brace in the 70th and 79th minute, after having already set up the opener for Nunez shortly into the second half. Along with his 2 goals and 1 assist, he managed 100% shot accuracy, 7 defensive actions and won 6 of his duels.

January 31st: Liverpool 4-1 Chelsea – With another detour for the return leg of the Carabao Cup against Fulham, and 4th round of the FA Cup against Norwich (Jota features as a 23 minute cameo against Fulham and played the full 90 against Norwich and scored in this one), the final league game of the month for Liverpool took place, beating a woeful Chelsea side 4-1. With Salah still out from AFCON/injury, Jota had stepped up again to lead the line, as he opened the scoring in the 23rd minute to give Liverpool the perfect start they could build on. With another goal bringing him to 4 for the month (all competitions) and 3 assists (all competitions), Jota put on a solid month of games as he was relied upon more in Salah’s absence. In this last one, Jota managed 100% shot accuracy, 100% tackles won and own 5 duels as Liverpool’s title charge has truly begun to take shape.