Theo Walcott believes Arsenal are developing a fear factor and Tuesday’s 2-0 Champions League win over Bayern Munich at the Emirates Stadium sent a message to their rivals.
Arsenal had beaten Manchester United and Watford to sit second in the Premier League and the victory over Bayern fired the sense of momentum, even though they still face a battle to qualify for the last 16. The club lost their opening Group F ties against Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos.
“If you beat Bayern you believe you can beat anyone,” Walcott said. “We have been fantastic in the league – the two games before in the Champions League weren’t great – but the confidence is flowing through the team and you can just sense that.
“I think a lot of teams are starting to be a bit wary of that and that is what we want. We want to put out a message and the Bayern result can hopefully show that. It can’t just be a one-off, we have got to make it [Champions League qualification] right first. We need to keep on doing it, which we have been, to be fair to ourselves.”
Walcott described the victory over Bayern, who had arrived in north London with a 100% record this season (excluding the German Super Cup), as one of the best results of his near 10 years at Arsenal.
“Considering the circumstances of the last two games [in the Champions League], I would have to put it up there,” Walcott said.
“There was a lot of pressure on us, we knew we couldn’t lose but a win was a massive ask. If we continue like this you never know where it is going to take us.
“We were sloppy in those first two matches, we didn’t show our quality. We can’t change that at all and we just need to make it right. This was a good first stepping stone to getting through but it’s still a tough ask. We are proud but it won’t mean anything if we don’t make it right.”
Arsenal continue to fret over Aaron Ramsey’s hamstring problem. The midfielder was forced off in the 57th minute and the swelling was too bad for him to undergo a scan on Wednesday. Arsène Wenger said after the game the injury was “quite a tough one” and he is unlikely to play for at least three or four weeks.
