Home Premier League Arsenal Theo Walcott praises Arsenal’s start

Theo Walcott praises Arsenal’s start

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Arsenal forward Theo Walcott has praised the side’s performance tonight during their 3-0 away victory over Turkish outfit Fenerbache and the Englishman has highlighted how important it was to start well in a hostile environment.

Despite suffering opening day defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday, Arsenal started the game in Turkey on the front-foot and controlled pretty much all of the opening stages, much to the delight of manager Arsene Wenger, but after 45 minutes, the visitors were still unable to break the deadlock.

However, continous pressure in the second-half finally took it’s toll on the hosts as they conceded three goals to Kieran Gibbs, Aaron Ramsey and a Olivier Giroud penalty.

The 3-0 away win all-but guarantees Arsenal’s qualification to the knockout stage and Walcott believes the positive start helped the team settle down.

“The tempo of the game was the key,” he said. “Straight away, we got [at them]. We wanted to quieten the fans and we did that, even though it was 0-0 at half-time.

“Before that we dominated the game. They didn’t have any shots on target in the first half. We just had to dig deep, tire them down and I think you could tell in the end that we were deserved winners.

“It was a very disappointing result in the Premier League but we forgot about that. We concentrated on today – we knew the job we had to do.

“We kept a clean sheet and got those three crucial goals that I think were well deserved in the end.

“It’s nice to take them back to the Emirates [in control of the tie] but we can’t be complacent. We have to be professional, which we will be.”

Despite not getting on the score-sheet himself, Walcott was the provider for Gibbs’ goal and also won the penalty for the third and the Englishman is happy that he could help the team to victory.

“It’s nice to get assists,” he added. “The next thing will be to get a couple of goals now but it was more about the team and the performance tonight.

“To keep a clean sheet was important and to get three goals [at a difficult place], the guys can be proud of themselves.”

Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt

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