England star wants to bring title to the Emirates Stadium.
Theo Walcott says Arsenal want to challenge for the Premier League title next season.
The Gunners showed Championship-winning form to seal an unlikely Champions League spot this term, winning eight and drawing two of their final ten matches to pip rivals Tottenham to 4th place by one point.
Walcott has scored 21 goals in all competitions this season – making him the highest scoring Englishman in the Premier League – and the England forward believes the team’s incredible run-in proves they can challenge for next year’s title.
“Challenging for the title is our next goal. A lot of people thought we wouldn’t do it today so it’s nice to show them that we could do it,” the former Southampton star is quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror.
Arsenal went into the final match of the season at Newcastle knowing victory would secure Champions League qualification but, despite leading 1-0 at St James’ Park, Arsene Wenger’s side faced an anxious few minutes after Gareth Bale had put Tottenham in front against Sunderland.
Walcott, however, insists the team were not thinking about their rivals.
“We weren’t aware of the Spurs result and we knew what we had to do – it was in our hands and we did the job.”
Arsenal lost 2-1 at White Hart Lane in March to slip seven points behind their north London neighbours and Walcott said the defeat, coupled with their Champions League win at Bayern Munich, proved to be a turning point.
“We had to prove people wrong. We had a disappointing result against Tottenham and it’s never nice to lose to them,” added the 24-year-old.
“We bounced back well and we knew if we could beat Bayern we could beat anyone.”
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