Walcott proud of Arsenal spirit

Arsenal forward Theo Walcott praised the team’s spirit after their recovery from a terrible start to the Premier League season.

Arsenal’s poor opening saw them drop to 17th place early on but, after an inspired turnaround, they have climbed to third and overtaken fierce rivals Tottenham on goal difference.

And Walcott believes that Arsene Wenger’s side have exhibited a resilience they may have lacked in previous seasons.

“I think that we can deal with pressure when it is thrown upon our shoulders,” Walcott said.

“The manager always takes it on his back, but as players we can cope with that now because we had that tough period.

“We had a lot of injuries, things weren’t going our way and Tottenham were 10 points ahead. But we dealt with that, we continued playing our football and completely turned it around.

“When people play at their full potential it makes the job so much easier. We need to learn to do this more often.

“We have got everything. People are coming out of their shells, playing at the top of their games and staying fit.”

Arsenal fans are desperate to end their extended run without a trophy and Walcott is confident it will only be a matter of time until they lift silverware again.

“I am as frustrated as the fans that we can’t do it throughout the season,” he said.

“Every team has their bad period, we have been up and down at stages; we weren’t playing particularly badly, we just weren’t getting results and it is all about results.

“We are learning to grind out results now. The Everton game for example, saw us play very well for 20 minutes but after that it was all Everton. But we still won 1-0 and that is what we need to do more often.

“We have real character in the squad, a lot of leaders and captains, and that helps us.”