Walcott reveals secret Arsenal meeting

Theo Walcott has revealed the Arsenal squad recently held a meeting without Arsene Wenger in an attempt to turn things around after a string of disappointing results.

Arsenal had gone five games without a win before Tuesday’s 4-0 FA Cup victory at Hull City, and forward Walcott – who scored twice at the KC Stadium – says a frank discussion had taken place.

“We are not going to lie, we know as a unit it has been tough and we all had a good chat among us behind closed doors, without even any of coaches or the manager knowing about anything,” Walcott told reporters.

“We have quite a lot of experienced players in the dressing room. It came from Petr [Cech], Mikel [Arteta], Per [Mertesacker] and Tomas [Rosicky[. We have four good old heads there. I’d like to keep what was said among ourselves but it was very important. We have had a reaction from it.

“The manager probably knows about it anyway, he’s got ears everywhere at the club. The manager respects the players’ privacy and what’s happening personally among us all. It was a meeting to express how everyone was feeling basically and it worked.

“It is important that as a team we have got it in us. We just have to produce it more often.

“You had a sense of the Tottenham game especially, when you go down to 10 men in a big game like that, the belief and the character was there. The never-give-up spirit was there as well. In the derby matches, they could be the matches that turn your season and we may have turned the corner.”