Walcott: we have our confidence back

Arsenal winger Theo Walcott is confident the Gunners have found their form after their scinitliating 5-3 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The Gunners fought back from 2-1 down to claim a spectacular victory against the title contenders, with a Robin Van Persie hat-trick and efforts from Walcott and full-back Andre Santos enough to take the spoils at Stamford Bridge, and rounds off a remarkable recovery after the London club suffered their worst ever start to the Premier League under boss Arsene Wenger.

Defeats against local rivals Tottenham and an 8-2 humiliation at the hands of Manchester United compounded a summer exodus lead by Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas to leave Wenger’s job looking in doubt, but a run of form that has seen the Gunners win five of their last six Premier League games to move them up to 7th in the league table.

Now Walcott believes Arsenal can use the momentum gained from their excellent run to challenge for honours, but insists they are not getting too carried away just yet.
"We are not looking too far ahead," Walcott said. "We don't want to say where we're going to finish at the end of the season, but the way we're playing at this moment in time we believe we can beat anyone.

"We're enjoying our football, our run is great now and we're just going to keep on continuing that... everyone is buzzing at the moment. We were disappointed to go 2-1 down just before half-time [against Chelsea], but before that we were playing some great football.

"It seemed that every time we went forward it looked like we were going to score and it could have been 8-7. It was just one of those crazy games that I'll never forget." He added.

Key to Arsenal’s resurgence has been the form of Robin Van Persie, who has found the net ten times already this season with football betting tips indicating he will end the season as the league’s top scorer. Wenger admitted the Dutchman was “on fire” at the moment”, but refused to comment on how contract talks with Van Persie, who has entered the final two years of his current deal, were progressing.

Wenger praises Van Persie

By Will Taylor

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was full of praise for star striker Robin Van Persie for his incredible scoring form of late.

The Dutchman has been in imperious form so far this campaign, and added to his growing goals tally with a stunning hat-trick against Chelsea in the Premier League at the weekend.

Many football betting pundits have been critical of Arsenal this season, with the heavy defeat to Manchester United being the club's real low point.

But they have enjoyed an upturn of fortunes of late, with Van Persie's goal scoring exploits a key reason for their successes.

Wenger said: “Robin is on fire at the moment and his class means he is taking advantage of being in a team that wants to attack a lot and create chances.

“The intelligence of his movement and the accuracy of his finishing is exceptional.”
The Gunners launched an impressive fight back at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, coming from behind to win 5-3.

It would have been easy for them to fall apart once more when trailing, but lead by the inspirational Van Persie, the club recorded another win to continue their recent turnaround in form.

After the game Wenger expressed his delight to get the win, and was complimentary of his side's performance.

He added: “We needed a win here and we kept going to win the game.

“I felt that we had a good team performance and great spirit because when we went 2-1 down just on half-time it's very difficult.”

Van Persie's hat-trick adds to a staggering run of scoring form that has seen him net 28 goals in just 27 Premier League matches.

And just lately, he has been more than just a regular contributor of goals, scoring braces against the likes of Bolton, Sunderland, and Stoke.