​Walcott declares European teams will be running scared of Arsenal

Theo Walcott believes no one will want to face Arsenal in the knockout stages of the Champions League.

They will now play one of five teams in the next round - Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Wolfsburg or Zenit St Petersburg - but Walcott insists they fear none of those sides.

"It doesn't matter who we play. I think we can beat anyone on our day, definitely," he said.

"Hopefully if we can get players back fit as well, the squad will be even stronger than it is now.

"If we get the likes of Wolfsburg, we've played them in the Emirates Cup [Arsenal won 1-0 in July] but it will be a completely different ball game. They had a very good result against [Manchester] United.

"I'm sure none of them would like to play us after that result. Whoever you get in the draw is going to be difficult.

"You've seen teams struggle when they should be going through and winning. It is just the way it is now.

"You've seen that in the Premier League - teams are getting so much better."

Walcott also feels they will have learnt from their defeat to Monaco at the same stage of last season's Champions League.

"Whoever we get, we need to respect them well. Against Monaco we didn't respect them at all," he added.