Theo Walcott issues warning to Arsenal team-mates after Champions League heroics

Theo Walcott made his first start against Olympiakos since returning from injury

THEO WALCOTT has vowed that Arsenal will show their Champions League round of 16 opponents the utmost respect after admitting the club took Monaco too lightly last February.

 

Somewhat against the odds, the north London side suffered their sixth successive failure in the first knockout round of Europe’s elite competition after sliding to an insurmountable 3-1 deficit in the first leg at the Emirates.

After a run of ties against Barcelona, AC Milan and Bayern Munich, twice, Arsenal could be forgiven for blaming their failure to progress on the luck of the draw.

But this latest run starts with a failure against Porto and continued last year against Monaco – where by their own admission, Arsenal were too complacent.

 

“Whoever we end up playing, we must respect them,” Walcott said.

“Monaco, obviously, we didn’t respect them at all. If we get the likes of Wolfsburg - we played them in the Emirates Cup - it will be a completely different ball game because they had a great result against Manchester United. But who know until the draw is done."

Thankfully, the Gunners cannot play their own Group F winners Bayern Munich of either of the remaining Premier League sides. That leaves Real Madrid, Barcelona, Zenit St Petersburg and Atletico Madrid, as well as the less-fancied German outfit.

 

However, to flip the conundrum on the head, Walcott is convinced that having seen the way Arsenal dug themselves out of a hole to qualify with a 3-0 win in Olympiakos, nobody would particularly relish a trip to the Emirates.

“I’m sure none of them would like to play us after that result,” Walcott added.

“It’s the Champions League. Whoever you get in the draw is going to be difficult. You’ve seen teams struggle when they should go through and should be winning. It’s the way, the set-up is now, even in the Premier League you see every team get much better.

 

"It doesn’t matter who we get, if we all contribute and play like that then we can beat anyone on our day. If we get a few of our players back as well then our squad will be even stronger than it is now.”

In the meantime, Walcott feels the confidence from the win in Greece can carry through into a packed Premier League programme over the festive period.

 

Arsenal will be hoping to avoid some of Europe's bigger names on Monday December 14

“I think it can lift our season,” he said. “Why not? The amount of confidence in that dressing room is spreading out to all the players.

“That’s what you want going into the Christmas period because the Christmas period in the Premier League really maps out where you are going to be at the end of it. So come January, we will see how it goes.”