Walcott Predicts Liverpool as Arsenal's Closest Threat

Theo Walcott has put Liverpool in a curious place ahead of the new Premier League season: the great unknown, but still dangerous.

The former Arsenal forward has branded the Reds “probably the hardest team to call” this year, yet he’s still tipping them to surge back from last season’s flat, fifth‑place finish and emerge as the main threat to his old club.

Walcott backs Liverpool as Arsenal’s closest threat

Liverpool’s pre-season has done little to clear the fog. Three wins, one draw and two defeats under new boss Andoni Iraola have offered flashes of promise and moments of concern, without a clear pattern. The real judgement starts on Sunday, away at Newcastle, when the Spaniard’s tenure truly begins.

They arrive there as a very different proposition to 12 months ago. Back then, they were reigning champions and burdened by expectation. Now, after a “miserable” 2025/26 and a quiet transfer window so far, the noise around them is far more muted.

Walcott isn’t buying the idea that they’re out of the picture.

Speaking to BBC Sport, the 37-year-old said: “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.”

It’s a bold call. Walcott has them finishing second, behind Arsenal, with Manchester City and Chelsea rounding off his predicted top four.

A team nobody can quite pin down

That confidence is far from universal. The split among pundits underlines just how enigmatic Liverpool look right now.

Paul Merson has gone the same way as Walcott, also backing Iraola’s side to finish runners-up. At the other end of the spectrum, Steve Nicol doesn’t even see them in the top six come May.

The truth may lie somewhere in between. On current evidence, this Liverpool side looks capable of climbing from last season’s fifth place, but still short of the relentless control required to sustain a full-blown title charge.

Pre-season has offered a glimpse of what Iraola wants. When it clicks, Liverpool’s attacking play looks slick, aggressive and, at times, devastating. They can overwhelm teams in spells and carve opponents open with pace and movement.

Then the flip side hits. They’ve looked open on the counter, too easy to play through when possession is lost, and they’ve shown a worrying tendency to concede from set pieces. The highs are high. The lapses are costly.

It all has echoes of earlier eras at Anfield – shades of Brendan Rodgers’ swashbuckling, chaotic side, or Jurgen Klopp’s early months when Liverpool could blow teams away one week and leak goals the next. Thrilling, but not always trustworthy.

Chaos, potential and a thin margin for error

What seems certain is that Liverpool under Iraola should be more watchable than they were in Arne Slot’s grim second season. The structure might be looser, the margins finer, but the football is likely to be far more alive.

There is still time, too, for the picture to change. The transfer window remains open for a few more days, and any late reinforcements could nudge this squad closer to the level Walcott is talking about.

For now, cautious optimism feels more realistic than title talk. Walcott sees Liverpool as the team most likely to chase down Arsenal. The question is whether Iraola can turn all that volatility into something more ruthless – or whether this season becomes another story of what this team could have been.