Paul Merson throws down the gauntlet to Liverpool duo as he predicts Reds’ finishing position
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Paul Merson has challenged two Liverpool players in particular to improve upon what they showed last season as he shared his prediction as to where he thinks the Reds will finish in 2026/27.The Merseyside giants were champions and title favourites this time last year, with that status enhanced by the £100m+ additions of both Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, but what followed fell massively short of expectations.Arne Slot was sacked after LFC scraped a fifth-place finish, while the German playmaker and Swedish striker managed just 11 goals between them in a campaign to forget on a personal and collective level.Merson issues Liverpool prediction for 2026/27Merson has given his predictions for the 2026/27 season to Sky Sports, and he’s expecting to see a significant improvement from the aforementioned Liverpool duo.He stated: ‘Liverpool’s midfield wasn’t great last year but I expect Florian Wirtz to have a better season, 100%. I thought it would take time for him to get settled in this league, but he’s had a season now.
If he doesn’t get going this season, you start worrying.‘Alexander Isak was so up and down with injury last season; they couldn’t really get him on the pitch. I don’t know if he’s going to need to take a bit more time, so I don’t know about his levels this season.’While Merson feels that Andoni Iraola doesn’t have the squad depth at Anfield to mount a genuine title challenge, he’s still predicted the Reds to finish second in the table, with Arsenal tipped to retain their crown.Want more Empire of the Kop coverage?
Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trustWirtz and Isak are showing signs of a lethal partnershipNeither Wirtz nor Isak will have been satisfied with how their first season at Liverpool played out, although the former did enjoy a purple patch midway through the campaign and the latter wasn’t helped by the misfortune of a broken leg which sidelined him for four months.Encouragingly, there were signs in the recent friendly against Monaco (in which both players scored) that the duo are forming a potentially lethal chemistry with one another on the pitch, something that we all too rarely had the opportunity to see at Anfield last term.The partnership wasn’t quite as eye-catching against Como on Sunday, although the German did tee up one promising chance for our number 9 during the second half of that match.If Wirtz and Isak can both remain fit for the bulk of the campaign and combine effectively with each other, Liverpool should be a much more potent attacking force than they had been in 2025/26.In turn, that could help to push the Reds further up the table, as could the prospective arrival of further reinforcements such as Bradley Barcola.If Iraola’s team fulfil Merson’s prediction of a second-place finish, that’d represent a massive improvement on last term and hopefully set them up nicely for a proper tilt at the Premier League title the following season.