If there is one emphatic way to silence your critics and prove a point to your boss ahead of contract talks and an FA Cup final, Theo Walcott did exactly that by scoring a marvellous hat-trick on the final day of the season against West Brom.
The West Brom side Arsenal faced were not a poor side, Arsenal just played with great freedom and had the explosive pace in the front line, so when the two are combined, like the man himself said, Arsenal are near unplayable.
Theo Walcott is a fantastic professional and Arsenal arguably play best when Walcott is on the pitch and on the right hand side, with him occassionally drifting central to create space. The player himself prefers to play down the middle, which is not too much of a problem and could work with rotation, especially now he is entering his golden years. In the past few years, Theo Walcott has been harshly criticized for not having a footballing brain and just having explosive pace, that's wrong. Walcott has always been blessed with explosive pace from when he joined from Southampton till now, however over the years his final ball and finishing has improved remarkably. Proof of this? He scored 21 goals and recorded 14 assists in the 2012/2013 season, which was the last time he played a whole season fully fit and a large majority of those appearances were off the bench. Fantastic statistics.
The question of today is "Theo is entering his golden years but will he really reach his potential and will it be at Arsenal Football Club?". Walcott will still be at Arsenal Football Club unless his financial demands are absurd and he could reach his full potential but only if he stays fully fit and makes some adjustments to his game permanently, like he did on Sunday.
As you can see from the video above, Walcott was always involved, whereas sometimes you watch a game and Walcott seems lost. Walcott was constantly drifiting central and to the wings and constantly calling for the ball whilst making clever runs in behind players but what is most important about alcott is what he did with the ball. When on the ball, Walcott was decisive. Too many times fans have watched Walcott and he has just passed it back to the player, or has half tried to take on a player and has retreated, this did not happen on Sunday. Theo was very decisive and determined, determined to take on his defender and beat him, even in the tightest of situations like seen in his second goal, where he elegantly dinks the ball over the leg of his defender before poking the goal into the back of the net. Fantastic technique. He displayed his great technique a few years ago when he scored a hat-trick against Newcastle.
Walcott's finishing is definitely not a problem, as he is one of the best finishers at the club and his off ball movement, in addition to his unreal acceleration, could do wonders whilst playing with the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. It's consistency and fitness that will be Walcott's major issues. We all know that he is talented, we've knowm that from when he was 16. We know Walcott is a great finisher and is blessed with pace. What we don't know yet is if Walcott will be able to stay fit and in form. For many, if Walcott is fully fit, he starts, especially now he could be entering his peak. Theo seems to have this newfound aggression and determination in his play, similar to Alexis Sanchez. The way Theo played on Sunday was rather similar to how Alexis has played throughout the season, high work rate, clever runs with the ball and behind defenders when without the ball, great goal instinct, so maybe Walcott has found some inspiration from Alexis whilst sitting on the bench watching the Chilean shine.
At the beginning of the season, Walcott did publicly declare his admiration of Alexis and said:
“With me and him on the flanks, a lot of teams won’t be looking forward to playing Arsenal this year. It is great to learn from these players, and I cannot wait to play alongside him. I am really looking forward to it.”
So maybe Walcott has learned from Alexis indeed. That's what those signings are meant to do, just like many say the signing of Mesut Ozil gave Aaron Ramsey and the whole Arsenal squad newfound motivation, Alexis seems to have had an impact too.
The thoughts of having Alexis Sanchez on one wing, Theo Walcott, in his golden years, on the other wing and a class striker up front is mouthwatering. Both wingers have electric pace, great finishing and Theo seems to be increasing his work rate and aggression on ball to match Alexis Sanchez, which will please Wenger. The contract talks are set to start after the FA Cup final according to various sources and Theo should get another contract, but with no pay rise, considering how long he was out injured for.
Focusing more on the final, Walcott's performance against West Brom should definitely see him start in the final, but on the right hand side and not up front. Walcott seems to be in form and there is no way Aaron Ramsey should be wasted on the right, he should play in the middle which means Jack Wilshere will probably be on the bench or Santi Cazorla, but we'll leave that dillema for Arséne Wenger to deal with, as we can't see what happens in training.