Walcott Predicts Liverpool as Arsenal's Main Rivals

Theo Walcott has branded Liverpool “probably the hardest team to call” this season, yet he still expects them to come roaring back from last year’s slump and emerge as Arsenal’s main threat in the Premier League title race.

Liverpool’s summer has been a muddle of mixed signals. Three wins, a draw and two defeats in pre-season have offered flashes of promise and moments of concern as Andoni Iraola prepares for his first competitive game in charge, away to Newcastle on Sunday. The sense is clear: this is a team in transition, but no one quite knows which way it will break.

Walcott tips Liverpool as Arsenal’s main rivals

The context is stark. Liverpool limped to fifth in 2025/26 and have endured a subdued transfer window so far. A year ago they were defending champions. Now, they enter the new campaign with expectations drastically scaled back.

Walcott, though, is not writing them off. Speaking to BBC Sport, the former Arsenal forward set out a bold scenario for Iraola’s side.

“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,” he said.

At 37, Walcott has seen enough title races to know how quickly the landscape can shift. He has Liverpool finishing second behind his old club, with Manchester City and Chelsea rounding out his predicted top four.

It is an optimistic reading of a club that looked jaded and short of ideas for long stretches of last season. But it taps into a wider feeling: if this new Liverpool clicks, they could be a problem for everyone.

An enigma under Iraola

Not everyone shares Walcott’s faith. The spread of predictions tells its own story about Liverpool’s volatility.

Paul Merson has also gone with a second-place finish, putting Iraola’s men right on Arsenal’s shoulder. Steve Nicol, by contrast, has sounded the alarm, warning that Liverpool might not even crack the top six by May.

That gap between best-case and worst-case outcomes sums up the uncertainty. This is a side that could surge or unravel.

The early signs under Iraola support both arguments. In pre-season, Liverpool have produced bursts of dazzling attacking football, the kind that can shred opponents and light up a stadium. Quick combinations, aggressive pressing, waves of runners – the blueprint is there.

So are the flaws. They remain open to the counterattack, too easily stretched when they commit bodies forward. Set pieces continue to trouble them, with a worrying tendency to concede from dead-ball situations that should be manageable at elite level.

It all feels familiar. There is a hint of the Brendan Rodgers era about this Liverpool, or the wild early months under Jurgen Klopp – a team capable of blowing sides away one week and blowing up the next. Electrifying, yes. Reliable, not yet.

Between chaos and contention

Strip away the extremes, and a more measured view emerges. Liverpool look likely to land somewhere between Walcott’s title-chasing vision and Nicol’s top-six warning.

Improvement on last season’s fifth place feels attainable. A sustained title challenge, given the current squad and the quiet window to date, looks a heavier lift.

The upside is obvious. Iraola’s football should make Liverpool far more watchable than they were in Arne Slot’s grim second campaign, when the spark that defined the club’s recent peak seemed to flicker and fade. The energy on the touchline has changed, and with it the mood in the stands.

There is also time, just, for the picture to sharpen. The transfer window still has days to run. A key addition or two could alter the ceiling of this team and turn Walcott’s prediction from hopeful into plausible.

For now, Liverpool stand on a knife-edge between chaos and contention. The talent is there. The system is taking shape. The question, as the new season kicks off, is simple: can Iraola turn this exhilarating uncertainty into something Arsenal and the rest truly have to fear?