10 Theo Walcott Performances That Show Why Arsenal Must Keep Him
6. Arsenal 7-1 Blackburn - 04.02.12
Arsenal's poor ending to the 2010-11 season was followed up by an even worse start to the following year.
Walcott's goals helped get the team into the Champions League group stages and he scored their first Premier League goal of the season, but that one did come in the 8-2 defeat to Man United. It was a game in which he didn't score, though, that was probably his best performance of the season.
Walcott has always been criticised as a winger for the quality of his final ball, but the excellence of his crossing and passing in the 7-1 thrashing of Blackburn gives the lie to this.
Within just two minutes, Walcott had raced down the right wing, got to the byline and delivered a cross that left Robin van Persie with just a tap in to convert. After Blackburn equalised, Walcott repeated his quality wing play to set up van Persie again. A third assist set up fellow ex-Saint Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with Walcott doing all the work for his teammates to benefit.
Overall, Walcott's eleven assists in 2011-12 put him at equal 7th for the season in the Premier League. The following year he would be 4th.