Paul Merson makes Premier League title claim Andoni Iraola may disagree with

Paul Merson has claimed that Liverpool will need to beat Arsenal this Sunday to be involved in the Premier League title race. A victory at Anfield would see the Reds leapfrog Brighton in third (pending the result of their trip to the Etihad on Saturday) and go within three points of Mikel Arteta's men.

Not to mention a summer transfer window that saw the club add quality but not necessarily balance to a side that finished fifth last term. Nonetheless, Merson appears to be of the mind that beating the reigning champions would put the Merseysiders firmly in the race.

"Liverpool are starting to cook a little bit, but they have got to win this Sunday if they want to be in the Premier League title race,"the former Gunners star told Sky Sports. "If they don't win, they stay six points behind at least and still have to go to the Emirates.

You're then asking Arsenal to lose two football matches without you losing one. And given Liverpool will lose more games this season, you're then asking Arsenal to lose three or four games for the rest of the season.

But at the same time, it's also must-not-lose for Liverpool as they still need to stay on track for the Champions League places. If Arsenal go and win against Liverpool, that could nearly be it for the Premier League title.

You then start to think: who's going to go and beat them?" We're not necessarily opposed to that viewpoint - and it's worth emphasising that Liverpool should be heading into every individual game thinking it puts them a step closer to mounting a challenge on the title. But ultimately, we're not sure nine games represent enough of a sample size to indicate that we're potential Premier League champions in 2026/27.

We've seen enough to suggest that Iraola is the right fit at Anfield and the club is showing green shoots, but there's a lot more than needs to come from Liverpool both on and off the pitch. But as things presently stand, we'd be amazed to see this version of Liverpool mount andmaintaina title challenge over the course of the season.

Especially once the games start coming thick and fast past the turn of the year and the club is juggling knockout games in the Champions League and cup competitions. In that sense, if Liverpool appear to be negotiating their way through a title challenge come the opening of the January transfer window, the market could prove pivotal in enabling us to go the distance.

We're all firmly aware of the weak points within the squad; the fullbacks have question marks (albeit, Ronald Araujo has excelled and Milos Kerkez is showing signs of improvement), Liverpool need a holding midfielder that can protect the backline and pass the ball forward, and there's a clear need for a right-sided winger. We could add a backup striker on top of that, but at this point it just seems like the club will wait for Hugo Ekitike to return to the fold.