In a season of so many cherished moments for Liverpool supporters, it was a January visit to Arsenal that provided one of the most memorable.
The song sung in honour of Diogo Jota was said to have been birthed in an Italian restaurant the month prior, but it was the concourses of the Emirates at the turn of the year that really gave life to the Portuguese’s now-famous Anfield ode.
"Ohhhh he wears the number 20..." the travelling Kop crooned long into the London night after Jota’s double had taken them to the Carabao Cup final. His 13th and 14th goals of the campaign were enough to dismiss a goalless first leg at Anfield and send the Reds to their first domestic showpiece for six years on January 20.
And as Liverpool get set for a return to Arsenal again this weekend, Jota could yet again find himself to be a pivotal figure for Jurgen Klopp. After all, the sight of the Gunners shirt has often represented something of a red rag to the frontman. Since his arrival at Liverpool in mid-September of 2020, he has harassed the north London club.
Just two full seasons into life on Merseyside, Jota, who joined from Wolverhampton Wanderers for an initial £41m, has registered seven goals against Arsenal and was Londoners' scourge most notably in that Carabao Cup semi-final at the Emirates. After negotiating the first leg with a clean sheet, the Gunners perhaps thought the hard work had been done when they squared up for the second leg.
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The Arsenal celebrations that greeted the full-time whistle at Anfield were revealing in that sense, but it was Jota’s brace that sent the Reds to Wembley at the expense of Sunday’s opponents.
The former Wolves star's first goal as a Liverpool player came against Arsenal and Jota will perhaps view Sunday's visit to north London as an ideal chance to get his own campaign belatedly up and running.
Like so many others within the squad on Merseyside, it's been a difficult opening few weeks of the season for Jota. A hamstring injury picked up on international duty was aggravated in the first training session of Liverpool's trip to Thailand in July, which sidelined him throughout the summer and kept him out until early September.
It was not the way he would have envisaged his fortunes after signing a new and improved contract in the summer on the back of his excellent progress at Anfield.
His two starts have coincided with Champions League victories at Anfield against Rangers and Ajax but having played as part of a two-man attack alongside Darwin Nunez on Tuesday night against the Scottish Premiership outfit, Jota is in line for his first Premier League start of the campaign against the side he torments more than any other.
If Nunez is the archetypal target man and Roberto Firmino is the 'false 9' of the Liverpool squad, Jota perhaps operates somewhere in the middle of that particular sliding scale of the centre forward role. The 25-year-old is a player capable of performing in a number of positions across the frontline, but his best work at Anfield has certainly come leading the line as a centre forward with the likes of Luis Diaz, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah either side of him.
"I always try to do what the manager asks me to do," said Jota recently with regards to his best position. "At Wolves we sometimes played with three up front and I was on the left, because we had a proper main striker in Raul (Jimenez).
"When we played with two, I was up front. So it depends on what the manager asks me to do. I try to adapt and I think that's one of my main characteristics. I don't force anyone to adapt to me - I try to adapt to whatever is required and do my best.
"Maybe some people will say I'm not a proper false nine or I'm not a nine, whereas some others may like it. But whenever I'm on the pitch I aim to get goals and get the team reaching the opponent's goal. That's what I try to do."
His 21 goals last term was bettered only by Salah and Mane at Liverpool and at a time when Nunez is continued to adjust to the very different expectations that are now placed on him as a £64m striker, a fit-again Jota will have to embrace further attacking responsibility on his shoulders under Klopp.
Liverpool's No.20 might just feel as though there is no better place to start than at Arsenal this weekend.
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