Arsenal Winger Theo Walcott: Next Season Is About Trophies

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Theo Walcott, Robert Pires, Arsenal-Villarreal (PA)

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Arsenal and England starlet Theo Walcott believes his club have used the past seasons as a learning curve, and now that the team has grown together, is ready to challenge for top honours.

The north London side have returned to pre-season training, but due to Walcott's exploits with England - both at senior level and also with the Under-21s at the European U-21 Championship in Sweden - he will link up with his team-mates at a later date so that he returns fully rested.

Walcott's claims today, in the July edition of the club's official magazine, echo those of chief executive Ivan Gazidis, who last month informed the press that it is high time Arsenal turned potential into points.

"It was a good learning curve for us all, but next year it is all about the trophies," Walcott explained. "Hopefully we have had the years of experience now and can bring something back for the fans.

"For me it was an up-and-down season - you are never really going to have a perfect one, but I am happy that my [shoulder] injury has gone so that I can come back to Arsenal and win things."

He continued by remarking on how the club still coped with a plethora of injuries to key personnel. "We had a bad spell mid-season and having so many injuries did not help. If you take five or six players out of [the] Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea teams they are going to struggle to get points too,” the young gun asserted.

"The players who came in did very well though, and in the end we just got our heads down, took things game by game and got the points to finish fourth very comfortably in the end."

Arsenal have welcomed Eduardo da Silva back to the squad, while Tomas Rosicky should be set for an Autumn return, according to recent reports.

Alan Dawson, Goal.com

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