Theo Walcott should waltz straight into this Arsenal side

Theo Walcott

Throughout Arsenal’s recent spell of point-gathering, table-topping excellence, you could forgive Theo Walcott for looking on from the stands slightly forlornly. For a player who scored 21 goals last season (on top of his 10 assists) the winger’s recent two-month absence has barely been felt by a club who, until they visited Old Trafford on Sunday, seemed at times unbeatable.

The clear problem for the England man, as he returns to fitness, is that none of the supporting attackers are obviously, or at all, droppable. In support of Olivier Giroud, the expected brilliance of Mesut Ozil, the continued brilliance of Santi Cazorla and the new-found brilliance of Aaron Ramsey have more than compensated for Walcott’s loss. Indeed, it is the much-vaunted Ozil who has been nominally stationed in Walcott’s customary position on the right-hand side of the attack, and only a brave man(ager) would axe the silky German for the rather less silky Walcott.

One solution could be to free up an attacking slot by shifting Ramsey into a deeper position alongside Mathieu Flamini, but the Welshman’s ludicrous goal-scoring form this season would make such a move self-defeating. Momentum, though intangible, is a vital entity in football, and interrupting Ramsey’s would be foolish. Arsene Wenger may be many things, but he is no fool.

There is more than a slight chance, too, that Walcott could be called upon to lead the side’s attack should Olivier Giroud fall victim to injury or suspension. It is the role Walcott himself has led many to believe is his most natural, though it’s unlikely to be a position which Walcott occupies permanently – at least not for this Arsenal side. Giroud, despite a recent shortage of goals and slight dip in form, has provided such a fine attacking spearhead by offering precisely what Walcott cannot: robust back-to-goal link-up play, a muscular central presence and canny six-yard-box movement. The pacey Walcott, as a centre forward, may have his merits against defences who push high up, but few are doing that against the Gunners at the moment, and with good reason.

And anyway, Walcott can provide a similar threat from a wide position – he is not, after all, a ‘winger’ in the old-fashioned, chalk-booted mold, but more of a wide forward who has plenty of licence to spring backlines and test goalkeepers.

The likelihood is that he will eventually regain his place in Arsenal’s starting XI, though quite when that is may depend on the side’s reaction to their weekend defeat. Should they suddenly find themselves listless, broken and short of ideas – a state which never seems too far round the corner for any Arsenal side – then the return of a lightning quick, goal-getting attacker could be just the tonic.

But if they respond to the loss to Manchester United with the sorts of splendid performances they’ve been putting in over recent weeks, Walcott’s time on the pitch may initially be limited to appearances from the bench – which may be no bad thing for him, given the propensity of matches to open up in their later stages, enhancing the potential impact of pacey attackers. Even in their recent impressive wins at home to Liverpool and away to Borussia Dortmund, Wenger’s men still looked as though they could have used the speed of Walcott to provide an uncomplicated method of relief in the moments the found themselves against the ropes.

Ultimately, top-level football now tends to test the makings of a club’s entire squad rather than simply their 11 best players, and Walcott will have a leading role to play in the remainder of Arsenal’s season. Their probable progression from the Champions League group stages means that almost every week will present the club with two matches to play and to win – a feat that only a strong and capable squad could fulfil. There may be no obvious player to make way for the winger right now, but he will be granted his fair share of chances to impress in the coming weeks, especially as fatigue threatens to take its toll on his colleagues.

Walcott’s luck lies in his distinctiveness – no other player at the club offers quite what he does, while the likes of Cazorla, Ozil, and Ramsey, as well as Jack Wilshere and even Serge Gnabry are largely comparable – diminutive ball-players who look to jink and think their way through a defence. Walcott, despite being a lesser technician than most of the above names, is far more direct, and so his value to the side may be elevated somewhat by its inimitability. For a side often criticised as having no ‘Plan B’, Walcott could provide a vital contingency option. He may have to be patient, but his return to prominence is surely inevitable.