Theo Walcott says he was pleased to make the most of his fourth start of the season by grabbing an eye-catching hat-trick on the final day of the Premier League campaign.
The England international doubled his tally for the season with a trio of strikes in the first half of the 4-1 win over West Bromwich Albion as the Gunners found their attacking swagger after recent struggles in the final third.
“Without a doubt [Arsenal were at their best],” he told Arsenal Player. “When it’s free-flowing football, we’re impossible to play against. You always sensed it was going to be a different second half.
“We’ve got the FA Cup coming up and some players were maybe saving themselves, which is understandable, the fans will want more and more, but it’s a long season.
“I just want to play football. Getting a hat-trick on the last day of the season after having limited opportunities – it was just nice to go out there to show what I can do. Hopefully the fans were very happy with that.”
Elsewhere Arsene Wenger has pinpointed Arsenal’s results in Manchester as the most important of the season. The Gunners secured a confidence boosting 2-0 victory at the Etihad to kick-start a fantastic run that went on to include a 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final win at Old Trafford.
Speaking to Arsenal.com at full-time yesterday, the boss noted: “I felt that a hurdle we had to overcome was to win against a big team away from home, so to win at Manchester City was an important moment.
“You could see the consequences afterwards. We won in the FA Cup at Manchester United in a very convincing performance, we drew 1-1 there too and that was a very important point for us to finish in the top three. Maybe the start of the strengthening of the team’s feeling was at Man City.
“As long as you don’t overcome a hurdle, people say, ‘Look they lost again there’. Since we have done that we have not lost a big game away from home.
“I believe the strength and cohesion of the team, and of the club, is always decided by the away results. On that front you prepare the basis of the season after and we can take a lot of strength from that.”
Rambo beats him to Arsenal beard awards by this much. What a guy.
Theo has a fairly decent record when it comes to goals up front. Sad the injury lay off set him back so much. The existing players in the squad are of good quality; hence inhibiting Theo’s chances to returning to full match sharpness. He had an opportunity today and grabbed a hat-trick! I’m so elated; especially because I’m a huge fan of Theo I always felt sorry for him while he spent those long period on the bench. He loves Arsenal; no doubt. I won’t be happy if he leaves based on lack of playing time. That’s too much of… Read more »
That got me thinking. Since the start of the 2012/13 season, Walcott has played 710 minutes at CF, and he has racked up 11 goals plus assists, which works out as a goal/assist every 64.5 minutes. A little better than ‘fairly decent’, I reckon. Of course, 710 minutes over 3 seasons is a small sample, but firstly Walcott has missed a lot of games through injury, making 32, 13 and 14 appearances in the league in that time, and secondly considering how little time he’s played as a CF in competitive matches, the gusto with which he’s taken to that… Read more »
the movement will be just terrifying with theo walcot up topfront in the FA Cup Final 2015. I would 100 % start him, and i guess it will be the perfect moment for him to win hearts of all the arsenal fans.
well we know Welbeck is out. I’d like to see Sanchez, Giroud and Walcott up front but that will probably leave Rambo on the bench and he was a beast when he came on! Perhaps the boss rests an out of form Giroud and returns with the same lineup with Kos and Monreal in the back 4. Good problems indeed.
It’s a cup final, villa will not sit back and defend like Chelsea do when they come to the emerates. Leave Giroud on the bench, theo is chomping at the bit. Giroud has not scored in 8 games, he is playing like a man shot of confidence. It’s not even a debate, remove sentiment and bench him. Wenger gets payed 7 million a year to make big decisions. Earn your money sir. I’m available if you need lessons on dealing with conflict, people pleasing and co dependency.
Subtle jab there when wenger says we haven’t lost a big game this half of the year, tottenham still not a big team despite the 150mil they spent
Totally offtopic but theres a news here in Malaysia where the big dogs in our FA lamenting the fact that the tickets to see Sp*ds is unsellable still.. compared to the last time Arsenal came around.
am a fan of Theo, he is a great player he does not deserve to be at the bench while he is fully fit. Hop i wl get sick to hear him leaving the club.Theo,cos,Rosisky,Gibs,wilpower etc are the back bones of arsenal team,so deserve regular starts. i was expeting Rosisky to be given almost 3 yr contract because he still plays like a teen the same with Theo.Hope Theo proved Wenger why we dont hav to sell him.Please start FA final with Rosisky….we need him.
Buy Reus, keep Theo. That’s us done up front.
I was just mentioning on another site where they was the usual moaning about needing another striker that Giroud has had a decent return this season and his trike rate despite tail off end of season (and missing 3 months) is equivalent to Benzema who many consider world class, for that matter Benteke. That said, we have scored 102 goals with 21 different players this season with Alexis weighing in a healthy amount. And Walcott has been largely absent from equation. If Giroud can keep his 52% conversion rate (He has successively up his percentage from low30% to 52% over… Read more »
Keeping Theo the last time around was critical given where the club was then. Now, isn’t it refreshing that he can stay or go, and AFC will be just fine? Me, I hope he stays.
Theo, if he stays, can become the next Arsenal legend.
He is on the verge of his breakthrough as centre forward, after all these years of setback and injury.
Give him his new contract and he’ll reward the club with trophies.
The mythical 25+ goal a season striker that everyone is clamoring for in order to win the league, is right under our nose.
Onwards and upwards.
Walcott has a bit of Podolskiness when it comes to his stats. They show that he’s a very efficient player. But not entirely dependable. He’s still useful to get us goals and I vote that we keep him for that.