When Arsenal had to do without the England international speed merchant for most of last season, especially with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also in the treatment room, it meant that the Gunners were missing a huge ingredient in modern football, pace.
So the news that the flying forward is due back in action for Arsenal soon after the current international break is really good. However, Walcott will come back into a much changed looking Arsenal attack and he will not be the one player with pace for the likes of Mesit Ozil and Aaron Ramsey to find with through balls.
Potentially, Arsenal will play with Alexis Sanchez, Walcott and Danny Welbeck in a front three and all of those players have serious speed in their lockers. So will this call for a change of style and tactics from Wenger? You would have to think so, to a certain extent.
We have always relied on our passing and possession in recent years, but it can be a bit slow and predictable and hard for us to penetrate a well organised opponent’s defence. You should now see us start to stretch teams more by the use of pace and we should also be a lot more dangerous on the counter attack.
Maybe the most difference then will be against the big teams, especially away from the Emirates stadium. So is this the start of a new era for Arsenal?