In yet another indication that Arsenal will not be buying a new striker, Wenger started Theo Walcott as centre-forward against Wolfsburg yesterday, and the Englishman scored the winning goal. I am now thinking that Walcott is waiting for Wenger to give him proof that he will not be bringing in more competition up front before he signs his new contract, and Wenger is saying the right things to soothe Theo’s ego.
After Walcott made sure that Arsenal won the Emirates Cup Le Prof was asked if Theo had signed his contract. He replied: “Not yet but we’re getting closer and closer. Hopefully we can finalise it very soon,”
“It was another goal for Theo and I’m not surprised by that because I played him through the middle.
“I’ve always said that he’s a goalscorer because he has the movement, he has the timing of the run, the speed for the finishing, and he has an eye for taking his chances at the right moments.
“When he gets into these positions he finishes well. Yesterday he nearly scored when he came on as a substitute, today he scored. I believe that Theo will score goals.”
Wenger brought on Akpom later in the game and Wacott was moved out to the left. The Boss was therefore asked what he thought Walcott’s best position was. “It’s a good question because it’s a complicated answer. I think in all the three positions.” Wenger replied. “If you ask him where he loves to play, I believe that even he will say that it depends a little bit on the period.
“Sometimes he prefers left. When I’ve played him on the left he likes it as well because if he makes a good run he can score goals as well.In his ideal world he would like to play with a strong guy next to him, a player who is very strong physically, and play off him. We have so many offensive players which makes that very difficult to combine all of them together.
“He’s not an aggressive striker, he’s a mobile striker.
“He’s the striker who lives from the quality of his movement and the speed of his movement.
“He turns up in the right spaces in the box and you cannot give that to a player.
“He anticipates well, he understands quickly and when that is linked with his speed and execution it always makes him very dangerous.”