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By scoring in Wednesday’s win over QPR, Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez ensured that a different player had managed to score for the Gunners in the last two games played between both sides at Loftus Road. Theo Walcott had been the only one to score in previous meetings, but he had to, on this occasion, make do with another 90-minute watch from the bench.
Which has become something of a rubber-stamped status for him in this current Arsenal team, and of course, a subject of speculation and inquisition.
There is the issue of his contract having only 18 more months to run and the club would want to avoid an encore of the drawn-out 2012 winter saga, only that this time, Walcott does not hold all the cards. He has quite been impressive since his return from the long injury, scoring three times in three games this year but he has found himself in a team which does not have to rely on any one person for goals.
Welbeck, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alexis, Ozil, Cazorla, the evergreen Tomas Rosicky, and of course, Olivier Giroud have all weighed in with important goals all through the campaign. They are all ahead of the 25-year-old in the pecking order at the moment and when you see how many assists and link-ups Giroud and Alexis have contributed, or the defensive work put in by Welbeck and the Ox, or the manner with which Rosicky, Ozil and Cazorla control the spread of play, it becomes relatively easy to appreciate why Walcott has struggled to win a starting place.
He’s not managed up to an hour of football in the last five games, at that includes being snubbed at Crystal Palace, Everton and the last London derby, even with the team in the lead. Not many will remember much what he did in 30 minutes against Monaco – if he did anything of note – and despite eventually giving away the third concession, his younger compatriot’s lifeline goal may just be showing that the difference in squad numbers may actually be translating to the reality on Wenger’s scale of preference.
Which is why Monday’s FA Cup game should mean the world to him.
Wenger will be expected to make rotations in his squad for the trip to Old Trafford and while it is not actually certain, you would anticipate that Theo Walcott would be called into the side for a first start since the League win over Leicester in which he scored.
He has expressed his desire to play a part in taking the team back to Wembley as he could not be there last season and there can be no better way than putting something close to a defining performance against United.
Scoring a goal would be just as significant as any other thing he might do but that kind of game where the manager feels you really are BACK may be needed to finally put his stamp on this team.
Because we know how very talented Walcott is and it would be a shame to see him not finally show it, feeding off the best team his ever played with at Arsenal since arriving as a teenager nine years ago.
