Arsenal at least managed to avoid defeat on Wednesday night, as they drew 1-1 at home with Southampton.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ended his goal drought to rescue a point for Arsenal, who had to dig in again after Gabriel Magalhaes was sent off.
For a while, it looked like Arsenal would again lose at home, as a ghost from their past came back to haunt them in Theo Walcott.
The ex-Arsenal attacker raced clear to dink Southampton into a first-half lead, and he decided to celebrate wildly against his former club.
Walcott left Arsenal almost three years ago, and after scoring more than 100 goals in almost 400 games for the Gunners, it seemed almost inevitable that he would score against them.
The 31-year-old’s focus is solely on Southampton right now, as shown with his celebration last night, but he did offer some comments about Arsenal after the final whistle.
Speaking to the London Evening Standard, Walcott admitted that he could sense ‘a lot of fear’ in Arsenal, believing that they were there for the taking.
Walcott added that Southampton are a nightmare to play against right now, but did credit Arsenal for getting a point – and amid lots of changes since he was at the club, Walcott claims Arsenal do have the right man for the job in Mikel Arteta.
“I felt a lot of fear tonight in Arsenal, to be honest,” said Walcott. “They are going through a very difficult time and we are probably one of the worst teams to play at the moment. We are in a good place. We know that we can dominate a lot of teams. A lot of teams do not like playing against the way we want to press. We hunt in packs and you can see the hunger in the players’ eyes when we want the ball back.”
“Credit to them, they get a result tonight. It shows how far we come that we are disappointed to come away and not get the three points. It is very different. It is a transition phase, a lot of new faces. It has changed, but I feel they have got the right man for the job,” he added.
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