Diogo Jota takes pressure off Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, according to Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher, who says Roberto Firmino "should just sit on the bench for three or four games".
Jota has made a hugely impressive start to his Liverpool career since moving to Anfield from Wolves for £41 million ($54m) in September.
The 23-year-old has hit seven goals in his first 11 outings for the Reds and is now pushing for a regular starting spot ahead of Firmino, who has only scored once in 12 appearances this season.
Jurgen Klopp took the bold decision to start both men alongside Salah and Mane against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Liverpool dominated the first 20 minutes of the match and took a deserved lead through a Salah penalty, but Gabriel Jesus hit an equaliser for the hosts on the half-hour mark and the game ended up finishing 1-1.
Carragher thinks the time has come for Firmino to be dropped for Jota completely, with it his belief that the Brazilian is failing to live up to his usual high standards in and out of possession.
Asked who makes up Klopp's strongest front three at this moment in time, the ex-Reds defender told talkSPORT: “Mane, Jota, Salah.
“Firmino isn’t in great form right now but that could change if Liverpool get to a final, but I don’t think he was in great form last season either.
“Even though Liverpool won the league, certain things got masked. Firmino didn’t score a goal at home in the Premier League until the last game against Chelsea.
“Liverpool fans are educated enough to know that Firmino’s role is not to be scoring the goals. Liverpool’s goalscorers play wide and they know he can create, win the ball back and start the press. But even when I looked at his pressing stats last weekend, they aren’t the numbers they usually are.
“It doesn’t mean if he goes out and Jota goes in that that’s the end of his career. He should just sit on the bench for three or four games.”
Carragher went on to express his belief that Liverpool have been lacking a player with Jota's predatory instincts in recent years, with Salah and Mane forced to share the main goalscoring burden for the Premier League champions.
“When you’re not playing well and you come on as a substitute, it’s hard to have a bad game as a sub,” he said.
“The reason why I’d play Jota is because Liverpool don’t have many goalscorers.
“Virgil van Dijk is a goalscorer from set pieces, the midfield three don’t really score, there’s no Gerrard or Lampard figure in there. The centre forward’s not scoring.
“If you put Jota in there then it takes the pressure of Mane and Salah.”
The former Liverpool centre-back added on Klopp's experimentation with a new formation against City: “I didn’t think it went horribly wrong. I’ll be honest, when I saw the team I felt Liverpool are going to have big problems and [Kevin] De Bruyne would run the show.
“Liverpool nullified his threat very well and that’s credit to Mane and Jota.
“For me, De Bruyne is the best player in the Premier League and he hardly got any space in the game.
“The three or four times that he did, he set the goal up and he set Raheem Sterling up for the best chance in the first-half and he had a couple shots outside the box.
“That is the best Liverpool have ever played against City at the Etihad. They’ve lost 4-0 and 5-0 under Klopp and 2-1 in that pivotal game for the title.
“Even though Liverpool played four attackers, it was the best they’ve ever been defensively.”