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Theo Walcott has backed one Liverpool player to net his first Reds goal of the season v Man Utd

Originally posted on Empire of the Kop | By Liam Togher | Last updated Oct 17, 2025 8:48 AM ET

Theo Walcott has backed one Liverpool player to get his first club goal of the season when the Reds face Manchester United on Sunday.

No fewer than 11 members of Arne Slot’s squad have already found the net for the Premier League champions during the current campaign (across all competitions), although Florian Wirtz, Alexis Mac Allister and Curtis Jones are among those still waiting to get off the mark (Transfermarkt).

The Argentina midfielder did net twice in a 6-0 thrashing of Puerto Rico in midweek, though, and the LFC head coach is confident that the 26-year-old will soon be ‘back at the level he wants‘.

Walcott backing Mac Allister to score on Sunday

Speaking on It’s Called Soccer! ahead of the resumption of the Premier League this weekend, Walcott was asked for a score prediction for the match at Anfield, and also to name one player he believes will find the net.

The former Arsenal winger replied: “I’m going to go for Liverpool’s first clean sheet [since Burnley in mid-September]. I’m going for 2-0 Liverpool. Let’s go for Mac Allister – very different, why not?”

Mac Allister should be buoyed by midweek double for Argentina

The Reds’ number 10 hasn’t scored in nine appearances for his club so far this season, with his last LFC goal being the thunderbolt he netted in the 5-1 demolition of Tottenham Hotspur on the day that we clinched the 2024/25 Premier League title in April.

He’s struck seven goals in each of his two full campaigns at Anfield thus far, and while he still has plenty of time to surpass that tally this term, he’ll want to get off the mark sooner rather than later, and Sunday would be the perfect occasion on which to do so!

He’s netted against Man United once since joining the Reds (in the 4-3 FA Cup defeat in March 2024), but his double for Argentina in midweek should hopefully give him a taste to repeat the feat in a Liverpool shirt soon.

Slot has admitted that Mac Allister’s disrupted pre-season has prevented him from reaching his best levels in the early weeks of the campaign, but the 26-year-old appears to have come through international duty in fine fettle, and he’ll surely be buoyed by his goalscoring feats.

If Walcott is proven right in his predictions for goalscorer and result, it’d ensure the perfect ending to what’d a hugely satisfying week for our number 10!

You can watch Slot’s full pre-Manchester United press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube: