Arsenal: Theo Walcott trying to single-handedly revive his career

Arsenal’s thrilling win over BATE Borisov had one man trying his best to do literally everything, and that was Theo Walcott.

I don’t think many would have expected that BATE Borisov performance. It looked like the Gunners were going to be happy sitting on a 2-0 lead, but the constant pressure and the goals from the Belarusians kept Arsenal engaged and they had to keep pressing.

Right at the middle of everything was Theo Walcott, the man who will always befuddle me. You have to give the guy credit for the match – he scored two goals, hit the post, made himself available. It was arguably Walcott at his very best.

As long as their is a goal to be poached, Walcott is the guy to call on.

And, given how much room Jack Wilshere is prone to create from his creative runs, there were going to be plenty of opportunities. These two had themselves a grand old time and it could have resulted in even more.

Walcott had one clear thing on his mind – to impress. And it’s impossible to debate with the results. He tried so hard to make a massive impact on this game that if anything, you could say that he tried too hard, but you can’t fault a guy for that.

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He fired seven of Arsenal’s 16 shots and created the most chances of anyone else on the pitch with three. That’s a lot from just one guy. A healthy majority that we aren’t used to seeing from Walcott, who can often times go missing.

You could say that he was feeling it.

There were inevitably still times where he looked far more intent on going at it alone than he was of setting up a team mate for what would have been an easy goal. Both Olivier Giroud and Wilshere had at least one instance when their wide open run was missed by Walcott.

Or not missed, but rather ignored. But again, I can’t fault the guy for trying to prove himself. That’s the whole point of these secondary competitions.

Not just that, Walcott because he was seeking a hat trick in both situations and he was undoubtedly pumped from just being out there.

This is what internal competition is supposed to do. Clearly Walcott was so fired up that he was pretty much dead set on reviving his entire career in one outing. Needless to say, that will never be enough, but if nothing else, it is refreshing to see the depth of the squad at work.

Next: Arsenal vs BATE Borisov Player Ratings

I’ll end this by saying simply that I am glad we have Walcott for competitions like this. Because at least we know what to expect out of him and he delivered it in Belarus and then some.

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