Curtis Jones believes Liverpool’s squad strength was again in evidence as Fulham were beaten 2-1 in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg.

The Reds recovered from Willian’s 19th-minute opener at Anfield and eventually earned a slender lead in the tie thanks to quickfire second-half goals from Jones and Cody Gakpo.

Gakpo sealed the comeback after being introduced from the bench and the Dutchman’s tidy volleyed finish was teed up by another substitute who impressed, Darwin Nunez.

“Cody, he came on, he scores, Darwin came on and he changed the whole game,” Jones told Liverpoolfc.com.

“You are seeing it now with the whole team: it doesn’t matter who is starting and who is coming off the bench, the lads are there and they are giving it their all for the team.

“There have been games where we’ve been behind and the lads who have come on have scored the goals and they are helping us win. So, I hope it continues.”

Jürgen Klopp’s team were vastly improved after half-time but had to remain patient in their efforts to pierce Fulham’s resistance.

Jones continued: “In the first half it was a tough game, we had all the ball but we couldn’t score so then in half-time we spoke about, ‘Look, boys, we’ve got all the ball but we need to score goals,’ and that’s what we did in the second half.

“If you see our team, we’ve got a team full of lads that are comfortable on the ball so we’ve got the respect off teams. They don’t want to come and press because they know that we will play through [them] so it’s one of them.

“We are facing teams now that are sitting deep, but the quality is there, the lads who came on, they changed the game, so happy days.”

The midfielder’s goal was aided by a sizeable deflection that wrong-footed Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno, but that did not take the shine off his fourth strike of the season, one that could prove pivotal in the tie.

“Of course I am [going to claim it]!” Jones laughed.

“It’s one of them things, I’ve always said [and] I’ve been around the team now a while and I’m playing a lot of games now so it’s about scoring goals and helping the team now.”

The Reds will visit Craven Cottage on January 24 seeking to clinch a place in next month’s final at Wembley, and Jones is taking nothing for granted.

He said: “Yeah, [there is] a smile on my face but there’s a second leg of the game so that’s the important one.”