One trophy will inspire another period of success, believes England striker.
Arsenal’s squad must repay Arsene Wenger’s faith in them by ending the club’s eight-year trophy drought, says forward Theo Walcott.
The Gunners are on the brink of Champions League elimination – after losing the last-16 first-leg against Bayern Munich 3-1 at the Emirates – and failure to overturn the tie in Germany will see the club consigned to another trophy-less season since their 2005 FA Cup triumph.
Walcott, who joined Arsenal as a 16-year-old from Southampton, says the players must repay the faith shown in them by boss Wenger.
“The boss has always had so much belief in me from a young age, but we haven’t won anything for a long time now, so we want to pay him back by winning something,” Walcott told Arsenal’s Official Magazine.
“If we don’t perform he always takes it back on himself, but at times it is not fair because we are the players that go out there and do it.
“He definitely let’s us know when we are not performing, though, which is the right way to do it.”
Walcott, 23, is enjoying a rich vein of form this season and has scored 11 Premier League goals to date.
The England forward believes that ending the drought would inspire confidence and see Arsenal enter another glorious period of success.
“Once the team wins the first trophy, you will start to see us coming back to where we should be,” he added.
“When your team is playing well it makes your job easier and when you are winning games it is fantastic to be a part of it. However, it is when things aren’t going too well that you need to stand out and get your team back involved.
“We have got players in the dressing room who can create something out of nothing, and I want to be part of that backbone.
“You see it when we go a goal down, everyone thinks ‘right, we need to step up here because it is not goo enough’, but if we do that from the start we can beat absolutely anyone.
“I think we will get to a stage when we win games even when we haven’t dominated.
“We are starting to get there and as soon as we hit that target, I am sure we are going to be flying.”
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