Theo Walcott scored in Southampton’s thrilling draw with Arsenal (Picture: Getty)
Theo Walcott believes Arsenal are the ‘best team in the Premier League’ and ‘way better’ than title rivals Manchester City.
Walcott was part of the Southampton team that held Arsenal to a 3-3 draw in a Friday night thriller at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners dropped points from commanding positions against Liverpool and West Ham before the visit of Saints and their blip continued as Ruben Selles’ side took the lead after just 28 seconds.
Aaron Ramsdale was at fault for the second fastest Premier League goal of the season as the Arsenal goalkeeper had a simple pass intercepted by Carlos Alcaraz, who then rifled a shot into the far corner.
The nerves inside the Emirates were palpable and Southampton doubled their lead on 14 minutes when former Arsenal star Walcott latched onto a through ball and slotted past Ramsdale.
Arsenal halved the deficit through Gabriel Martinelli but were faced with another two-goal deficit when Duje Caleta-Car headed in from a rare Southampton attack in the second half.
The Gunners’ title hopes appeared to be crumbling at that point but Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka both scored late goals to salvage a point.
Walcott chose not to celebrate after scoring against his former club (Picture: Getty)
Arsenal are now five points ahead of Manchester City, who have two games in hand and play host to Mikel Arteta’s side on Wednesday night.
The momentum appears to be with a Man City side who cruised through to the Champions League semi-finals earlier this week but Walcott has suggested Arsenal can stun the defending champions at the Etihad.
Southampton were thumped 4-1 by Manchester City two weeks ago but Walcott still feels Arsenal are the ‘better’ side and ‘hopes’ they go on to lift the title.
Speaking after the dramatic 3-3 draw, Walcott told NBC Sports: ‘Arsenal are just incredible. We played Man City the other week and I thought Arsenal were way better than them.
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‘That’s how I see Arsenal at the moment. We can take a lot of positives from this game because they [Arsenal] are the best team in this league at this moment in time.’
Walcott spent more than a decade at Arsenal and decided not to celebrate a goal that looked set to help Southampton climb off the bottom of the Premier League.
‘My son’s going to be really disappointed that I didn’t celebrate but I just couldn’t,’ the 34-year-old said.
‘It was a very indifferent day for me today, I felt like I couldn’t win. Hopefully now Arsenal can go on and win the league and beat Man City on Wednesday.’
Manchester City thumped Southampton earlier this month (Picture: Getty)
If Arsenal left the Emirates with mixed emotions, so did a Southampton side who led the Premier League leaders by two goals on two occasions.
‘Everyone feels a bit deflated I think, that’s the sense I got from the fans and both teams,’ Walcott added. ‘We were in a great position of course and we kind of threw it away.
‘Before the game we would have taken a point against the team at the top of the league but with five minutes to go we felt we were in control.’
Southampton, who remain bottom but are now just three points from safety, return to action on Thursday with a crucial clash with relegation rivals Bournemouth.
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Walcott scored as Southampton frustrated Arsenal.