Arsenal vs Lincoln City: Time For Theo Walcott To Party

Arsenal will be facing down a hungry Lincoln City at the Emirates and this could be a chance for some fun. Mainly for Theo Walcott, who needs himself a party.

Nobody has lived through more of Arsenal’s modern struggles than Theo Walcott. The longest-tenured man, having served the team for a decade, Walcott should know better than anyone else what this team is all about.

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He is also the player I harp on the most. At various points in my loving relationship with Arsenal, I have referred to Walcott as the symbol of a failed era, the captain of the team of no consequences, and various other unflattering mantras that I felt he had earned. I will admit that I felt bad calling him such things, as it hurts to speak of any Gunner in such negative ways, but it’s a tough love.

Through it all, Walcott continues to spring up at times to baffle me. Take for instance, this entire season. Walcott has scored sixteen goals this season. That is second only to Alexis Sanchez’s 20. As a believer in the claim that numbers never lie, it’s hard for me to look at those numbers and justify how Theo Walcott doesn’t have some sort of use. Maybe he isn’t just a poacher.

But you look at his match list and when his goals have come and there is no sort of consistency. Walcott has scored or assisted in 14 matches this year, which is a nice number. However, only three of those matches have been losses, which helps keep afloat the idea that he only performs well when the team performs well.

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But then again, he did score against Bayern Munich. And in that match, he did more than score. He looked an incredibly compelling and creative attacking threat that wholly stole the spotlight from Alexis Sanchez. Which is by no means an easy thing to do.

Next up is Lincoln City, a club, like Sutton, that Walcott should have an absolute party against. Maybe even a Southampton-style party. That sounds fun.

Walcott has confounded his fans and his naysayers for years, but this is a chance for him to build on a hint of resurgence. This is a chance for him to try yet again to prove that he is capable of extraordinary things. His goal against Bayern was extraordinary, but he has had “hot flash” goals like that before.

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Do it more than once and I’ll start rethinking my tune.