Walcott, who joined the set up at Arsenal as a 16 year old in 2006 from Southampton, has undergone a sea change in his career, developing from a promising talent to one of the best wingers in the country and even made it to the England squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup held in Germany, where England was knocked out by Portugal.

The French manager is keen to avoid another controversial departure like that of Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas in order to avoid losing them for free at the end of their contracts and so, Wenger is eager to tie down Theo Walcott to a long term contract to ward off interest from the European giants.

However, it remains to be seen if the winger, who had a troubled beginning at Arsenal, will be able to ignore the overtures of the big clubs and stay at a club that has not won a trophy for the last 6 years.

According to the football experts, the only way Arsene Wenger can hope to retain his star midfielder is by making a few marquee signings but going by his latest transfer policy that seems to be a farfetched dream. With the club out of the Carling and FA Cups already, and a lot of points behind Manchester City in the League, their only hope of a trophy this year is in Europe, though the in-play Champions League betting odds of Arsenal winning shows that they have only a very slim chance of even getting to the Final, let alone winning it!

This lack of trophy chances is bound to affect Walcott’s decision. However, according to the agent of Theo Walcott, he is only thinking of his long term future at the club but as well known, the world of football is as crazy as the game and anything can happen at any time.

Robin van Persie has been in sensational form this calendar year and is very close to equalling the club record for the most number of goals scored in a year by Thierry Henry. So far, Robin van Persie has scored a sensational 33 goals from 32 matches in 2011, and is also very close to achieving the all-time set by Alan Shearer many years ago.

Initially, Theo Walcott was expected to be the natural successor to Thierry Henry at Arsenal given that he has been using the same number 14 shirt vacated by the Frenchman.

However, the England winger has admitted that Robin van Persie is more suited towards succeeding the efforts of the Frenchman at Emirates Stadium. Thierry Henry is regarded as one of the greatest players to have played for Arsenal during their illustrious history, so much so that the club recently unveiled a new bronze statue commemorating the player. Along with Thierry Henry, the club also announced the statues for Herbert Chapman and Tony Adams right before the Emirates Stadium. Now, Theo Walcott has said that Robin van Persie is the natural successor for Thierry Henry, even though he has been quite sensational in recent weeks for Arsenal.

“The way Robin is playing, he wants to be one of those legends as well. I’m just absolutely shocked. To see that go in was incredible. He’s a player in so much form, the goal was amazing and it’s just world class to see. He would say himself, he was in and out of the game. That’s the difference,” Theo Walcott said when asked about Robin van Persie. Theo Walcott has been important for supplying the ammunition for Robin van Persie.

In fact, they have beaten the best team in the Bundesliga so far – Bayern Munich this weekend. It puts them into a position of great strength as they take on Arsenal in the penultimate group match. However, Arsenal winger Theo Walcott says that Arsenal are very much looking forward to meeting Borussia Dortmund and extending their unbeaten run to 10 games. Robin van Persie has been very much the centre of attention for Arsenal in recent weeks, but the striker has credited his good run of form to the supply provided by Theo Walcott.

Theo Walcott, in turn, has heaped praise on Robin van Persie by saying that van Persie takes the pressure off every other player at Arsenal. Speaking ahead of the match against Borussia Dortmund, Theo Walcott said, “We are playing beautiful football at this moment in time. Robin up front makes our jobs so much easier. He’s one of the best strikers in the world right now. We can keep on winning.”

Borussia Dortmund should win the match against Arsenal in order to have any chance of progressing to the next round because Marseille are in the second place now.

Theo Walcott is still confident that Arsenal can fulfil his dreams and finish in the top 4 in the Premier League table this season. After a torrid start to the season, which culminated in an 8-2 thrashing by Manchester United, Arsenal have finally started to look like a football team that can challenge for the major honours. They currently lie in 6th in the table, but Walcott believes it’s just a matter of time before they find their way back into the top four, and maybe even higher!

Speaking after the Norwich game, which Arsenal won convincingly, Theo was in a confident mood. “We’ve said all season that the aim is to finish the League in one of the top four spots and qualify for the Champions League. We may have started poorly but it’s a long run in, like a marathon, and I’m confident that by the end of the race we can achieve that top 4 finish.”

Arsenal have some tough matches coming up, with Manchester City and Liverpool both due to play the Gunners over the next few weeks. When you couple that with the last two group stage matches of the Champions League (which are both must-win matches for Arsenal) you start to wonder whether Arsenal have the squad to cope with the pressures of playing at the very top – not many punters will be tempted to bet on Arsenal winning all those games…?

Arsenal’s chances depend heavily upon whether Robin van Persie is fit, according to Betfair’s ‘Lee Dixon Bets‘ column. Van Persie has been in scintillating form alongside Theo, scoring an impressive 13 league goals so far this season, and over 35 in this calendar year. With him in the side the Gunners somehow manage to find another dimension, but without him they seem to lack the verve, flair and confidence needed to break down their opponents.

Van Persie sat out the match against Norwich, but should be back for the Dortmund match in midweek. With him and Walcott linking up well so far this season, if they can keep the pair of them fit, Arsenal might just have a chance…

It hit rock bottom when they were pulverised 8-2 by Manchester United, but it seems as though the team is now back from the brink, and on the way up, as confirmed by their 5-3 rout of Chelsea on Saturday.

And now the games can’t come fast enough for the Gunners, who are currently being inspired up front by both Walcott and Robin van Persie.

“All of the lads are on a high right now,” Walcott declares. “We showed so much spirit to twice come back from behind to beat one of the best teams in the country. That’s the sort of character we needed and maybe it’s something we’ve not had in the past.

“When you come to Chelsea, score five goals and get a result which the performance fully deserves, it gives you so much confidence in the dressing-room. The atmosphere afterwards was just fantastic and now we are looking to push on in the Champions League.

“We’ve managed to win eight of our last nine games in all competitions and we’re enjoying ourselves so much that the next game can’t come quickly enough for us.

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Theo Walcott limped off in the first half of 3-1 win over Birmingham. He got a tough challenge from Liam Ridgewell. That was the his first start of the season. Theo Walcott might have to wait for at least one month for another start.

“The news is not good,” confirmed Wenger to http://www.freebetsnow.co.uk. “We are without Theo Walcott for longer than expected.

“We thought it would be just 48 hours but it is a medial knee ligament, which is what I feared after the game. He will be out for three to four weeks.”

Theo Walcott’s teammate, Tomas Rosicky has also been ruled out for the game against AZ Alkmaar with a knee problem. Arsene Wenger expects him to be ready for the premier league game in weekend. Gael Clichy is declared fit after an ankle injury.

Arsene Wenger stated:
“He has a bruised knee, it is swollen and difficult to assess at the moment. Is it a medial knee ligament that is twisted or just a kick? The fact that he says he felt a little unstable when he was running is not good news. We don’t know yet how much of his pain is down to the kick and how much is down to the fact he twisted his ligament.

“We will assess the situation tomorrow morning. He will be scanned and if it is just a kick he has a good chance to play on Tuesday night. If it is more, he will not play on Tuesday. I believe personally he will not be available on Tuesday at least. It is not a cruciate for example but it could be more than a week if it is a twisted ligament.”