Published: 3 September, 2015
by STEVE BARNETT

THEO Walcott says he is confident that Arsenal “can go places” this season, and that he’ll be scoring more than his fair share of goals along the way. 

The England international was handed his first start of the campaign away at Newcastle on Saturday, with manager Arsene Wenger turning to the 26-year-old to lead the attack. Walcott failed to impress, however, as he missed a string of chances before the Gunners finally eked out a 1-0 victory at St James’ Park courtesy of Fabricio Coloccini’s own goal. 

Walcott said the dismissal of Newcastle striker Aleksandar Mitrovic after only 16 minutes changed the dynamics of the game. “The manager gave me an opportunity, and it’s a shame I couldn’t help him out by getting those goals. But they’ll come,” he told Arsenal Player. 

“Once they went down to 10 men we found it more difficult to get in behind them. They condensed the pitch and that changed our game plan. 

“We had to adapt. We said at half-time to just be patient and luckily, in the end, we got a deflected goal.

“I had opportunities but I just didn’t take them,” Walcott added. “I would have taken them on another day. If I came out and had no chances at all I would be more disappointed. 

“It’s good that I was in there and I know that I can do better. But we got the three points and that’s most important.”