Theo Walcott Can and Will Change Everything for Arsenal

Arsenal’s defense/midfielders/entire team has an immensely difficult time holding onto leads. First it was Anderlecht, then it was Swansea, and even before that, the Gunners have dropped countless affairs when taking the lead. With a small January budget and all signs pointing to Arsene Wenger holding off on a defensive midfielder, perhaps the answer Gooner’s seek isn’t more defense, but more goals.

Enter Theo Walcott (Please enjoy this nice hype video).

As it stands, Alexis Sanchez is the only consistent attacking threat that Arsenal possess. While that is perhaps the most lethal threat in the entire English Premier League at the moment, he can’t continue doing it alone like he’s been doing more times than not.

We’ve seen Walcott feature all to briefly since “returning from injury.” He looked absolutely fantastic against Burnley, where he nearly nabbed a goal and an assist in a mere ten minutes of play.

Theo Walcott’s last full season in tip-top form was in 2012/2013, where he netted 21 goals in 32 appearances – a stat that should cause massive amounts of salivation at the prospect of knowing that Walcott is healthier than ever (unless you ask Arsene Wenger).

Let’s use Squawka to compare Theo’s epic season from two years ago to some of the top wingers in today’s game, thus far into the 2014/2015 season. The stats are on a “per 90 minute” basis, to accommodate for the fact that we’re only 11 games into the season so far.

[table id=4 /]

As we can see from the table, Theo Walcott, in top form, fits in among some pretty epic company. The news that he’s faster than he’s ever been should be the most welcome news since Wenger signed Alexis. The only unfortunate piece about this whole scenario is that Wenger has stated that Walcott won’t be fully fit until Christmas, which I have a hard time believing.

If we can’t contain a lead, maybe we just need to build bigger leads. Theo Walcott and Alexis on the same pitch is a combination capable of ripping any defense asunder, and I think it’s overdue that we try it out.

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