Arsene Wenger has been ‘bigging up’ Theo Walcott ahead of tonight’s Champions League game in Ukraine against Shakhtar. AW has hinted that Theo is close to being handed the role of central striker – a position I know from speaking to his dad Don that he is desperately keen to fill.
I was at Theo’s debut for the Arsenal at Havant against Portsmouth reserves and he started out wide. As soon as they moved him into the middle he scored. And duly shut up the Pompey fans who had been berated him with ‘scummer’ taunts because he had come from their arch rivals Southampton.
AW said: “You must imagine that Theo is a Formula One type of player and when he is fit he is always at 200mph and then it hurts. He is fit, looking good and will start. He is very, very close to playing that striker role. First of all, he is a more natural striker as he likes to put the ball in the net himself.
“He can be a prolific goalscorer because once he is a yard in front of the defender there’s very few who can catch him. The thing is with you in England, you are very impatient. Give two more years to Theo and imagine what he will be.
“Don’t forget that when Thierry Henry came here, he was a winger. When I played him as a central striker, he said to me: ‘but I can’t score goals. Henry is an intelligent guy, analyses his game and when he says that he knows his statistics as a winger and will know how many goals he scored. He didn’t score many from the flanks.
“It’s very difficult. I knew Thierry when he was 14 and at 15 I knew he could score goals because he played central. Then I left Monaco and they moved him to the flank but I knew in my head he could do it. Theo is the quickest player I’ve ever seen whereas Thierry is a player who likes the ball more. But Theo is more direct.
“It looks to me that Theo has a calmness in front of goal. Before he rushed his decision but now he is different in front of goal. It’s difficult to compare the similarities. Is Thierry a replica of Theo? Is Theo a replica of Thierry? No. But they have in common tremendous pace, they are good finishers and both are intelligent.
“Theo has convinced a lot of people. He gives us hope when you see the team struggle because Theo can come on and make a difference with his pace. His attitude, his commitment, no matter through good or bad times, he shows commitment and humility. He shows respect as well.”
We face Eduardo – who, true to his word, did not celebrate after scoring in the 5-1 win at the Emirates last month – again tonight and he has had his say about the upcoming encounter:
He said: “Arsenal have always had difficulties against Eastern European teams and I’m hoping they’ll find it the same this time. I know we’re a good team and we’re always strong at home. The team have not lost a single match since moving to the new stadium.
“We are still in a good position. Arsenal remain top with us right behind. We’ve six points, and if we beat Arsenal we’d practically be in the second stage.
“We are aiming to get at least to the quarter-finals of the Champions League – we can certainly do that, we’ve got a great team and all we need is a bit of luck.
“When we watched their previous matches, they always had six, seven chances but scored once or twice. We were expecting that. We weren’t too far behind in terms of chances and didn’t play as poorly as the final score suggests. They had their usual five, six attempts on goal, but this time they got five in. I was delighted to score, but the defeat hit the whole team hard.”
Let us hope he doesn’t have cause to celebrate later…
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
