‘Hardest team to call’ – Theo Walcott’s Liverpool prediction will pleasantly surprise Reds fans
Theo Walcott has claimed that Liverpool are ‘probably the hardest team to call’ in terms of predictions for the new Premier League season, but he’s backed them to massively improve on their miserable 2025/26 campaign.
The Reds’ mixed fortunes in pre-season (three wins, one draw, two defeats) has made it difficult to evaluate how well they’re shaping up for the next nine months as Andoni Iraola’s reign begins in earnest with a visit to Newcastle on Sunday.
Having finished a lowly fifth last time out and had a worryingly quiet transfer window thus far, LFC go into the new campaign with much lower expectations than they did a year ago as reigning champions.
What has Walcott predicted for Liverpool this season?
Despite that uncertainty, Walcott believes that Liverpool are capable of being Arsenal’s closest challengers for the Premier League title in 2026/27, especially if two players in particular perform to a consistently high level.
The ex-Gunners forward told BBC Sport: “Liverpool are probably the hardest team to call. Iraola is an excellent manager and if Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz have big seasons, they could absolutely push Arsenal for the title.”
The 37-year-old has backed the Reds to finish second behind his former club, with Manchester City and Chelsea completing his predicted top four.
Hard to predict how enigmatic Liverpool will fare this season
It attests to the unpredictability around Liverpool right now that there’s such a disparity in pundits’ forecasts as to where they’ll finish this season. Paul Merson has echoed Walcott’s prediction of second, whereas Steve Nicol fears that Iraola’s side won’t even be in the top six by the end of May.
Our expectation is that the Reds will finish somewhere down the middle of those two extremes, hopefully improving upon last term’s position but realistically not at the level to mount a genuine title challenge.
From what we’ve seen in pre-season under Iraola, this team is capable of sumptuous attacking brilliance and could potentially blow opponents away, but there remains a vulnerability on the counterattack and a worrying habit of conceding from set pieces.
It wouldn’t surprise us if Liverpool of 2026/27 are reminiscent of the Brendan Rodgers era or the first few months under Jurgen Klopp – devastating at their best, but too chaotic to maintain the consistency required for title contention.
The Reds should at least be better to watch under Iraola than they had been in Arne Slot’s wretched second campaign, and there’s still a few days left for further reinforcements to come in and enhance the squad further.
We’re cautiously optimistic about the season ahead – just not to the same degree as Walcott!
