Matters are rarely so simple in football. But the two related facts are too glaring to be mere coincidence for Liverpool.
Diogo Jota hasn't scored a Premier League goal since netting in the 2-2 draw at Manchester City back in April, a wait that has now gone on for almost 10 months.
And since then, Liverpool have played 27 top-flight games and conceded first on 16 occasions.
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While the travails of the defence have been well documented this campaign, perhaps overlooked, until relatively recently, have been the issues at the other end of the pitch, with the Reds struggling to convert the chances they continue to create.
Although Mohamed Salah has notched an impressive 17 times and Darwin Nunez a not inconsiderable 10 overall this term, there is no doubt Jurgen Klopp's side have been missing a particular attribute that has become a hallmark of Jota's during his time at Anfield.
The forward scored 21 times for Liverpool last season, of which 14 were the first goal in the game - starting with the season opener in the 3-0 win at Norwich City - while a further six were the pivotal second, half of which came having already opened the scoring.
Not for nothing is the Portuguese become known as the Reds' "game-breaker", the player likely to notch the all-important first goal that so often sets the tone for the remainder of the match.
Jota, of course, has missed all bar eight games of an increasingly tortuous Liverpool campaign, of which only four have been starts. In that short period, he managed five assists, three of which came when supplying Salah with a quickfire treble from the bench in the Champions League at Rangers in October.
Indeed, the nearest the 26-year-old has come to playing a full match was when he left on a stretcher having suffered a calf injury during additional time in the home win over Manchester City four days after his Ibrox cameo, following which he hasn't been seen in the first team, missing the World Cup in the process. Jota had already sat out most of pre-season and the first month of the new campaign after aggravating a hamstring problem at the start of the Far East tour.
Now the Portuguese is close to a return to first-team action, with forward back in full training on Wednesday having made a tentative appearance last week on the AXA Training Centre pitches, although Monday's visit of Anfield is likely to come too early. Liverpool have been careful not to rush his comeback, mindful of how Luis Diaz suffered a devastating setback in November.
Having signed a contract extension in August which will tie him to the club for another four years, Jota evidently has the long-term faith of Klopp and his coaching staff. But he will undoubtedly have been intrigued that, for the third successive transfer window, last month Liverpool signed a player - Cody Gakpo following Darwin Nunez and Diaz - who can either play on the left wing or down the centre of the attack, the two positions from where Jota does the most damage to opposing defences.
The impressive form of Diaz and now-departed Sadio Mane during the closing months of last season has already impacted on Jota. He started only twice in the final stages of the Champions League, one of which saw him hauled off at half-time with Liverpool 2-0 down in the return semi-final leg against Villarreal. Jota was also notably benched for the Anfield visits of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
The forward's absence, though, has been increasingly felt this season the longer he has been on the sidelines. Liverpool need their "game-breaker" back while there is still something to play for this campaign.
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