Theo Walcott felt ‘a lot of fear’ in Arsenal in damning verdict on former club as he defends goal celebration
THEO WALCOTT delivered a damning verdict on former club Arsenal while defending his goal celebrations at the Emirates.
Both Walcott, who opened the scoring, and Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl felt the fear in Mikel Arteta’s team.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang broke his goal drought with the equaliser that prevented Arsenal suffering their worst ever start to a season.
But then Gabriel became the latest Arsenal star to be sent off after two yellow cards in four minutes.
Arteta’s struggling side now have more red cards – THREE – in their last five games than goals and ex-Gunner Walcott could sense things were badly wrong at his old club.
The former England star, on-loan from Everton, said: “I felt a lot of fear in Arsenal tonight, to be honest. They’re going through a very difficult time and we’re one of the worst teams to play at this moment in time.
“It shows how far we’ve come that we’re very disappointed to come away without the three points.”
Reflecting on his goal celebration which risked angering fans who once chanted his name, Walcott added: “Scoring a goal, no matter who you play, is one of the best feelings and I scored many goals here.
“But playing for Southampton is a massive thing for me so to score a goal, why not? Why wouldn’t I celebrate?
Saints boss Hasenhuttl could also see that Arsenal’s wretched run had taken its toll on Arteta’s players.
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Hasenhuttl said: “They are not convinced so much about what they are doing at the moment. You could feel this.”
Arsenal captain Aubameyang boosted his own confidence by scoring from open play for the first time since the opening weekend of the season.
But the Gunners skipper admitted the team’s confidence was fragile and they were feeling the pressure.
Aubameyang said: “At the moment we are of course a bit nervous because we need points.
“We have to stay cold in the head. It was tough at the end but I think the team gave everything to get that point.”
Arteta said he hoped Aubameyang’s long-awaited goal would “unlock” him and the battling point would be a turning point for his team.
The Arsenal boss said: “Considering we played 35 minutes with 10 men, we have to take the point because we showed some resilience and character to hang in there for so long against a really dangerous team.
“But at the same time we are disappointed because we came back after conceding a goal. When we had our best moment again we shot ourselves in the foot.
“It’s very difficult to compete in this league when you play for such a long period with 10 men and we are struggling for results. It makes it even more complicated.
“They showed again a lot of character and resilience. They never gave up.
“After 1-0 I was worried because you can start to see players hiding, and they did completely the opposite. Hopefully this unlocks him [Aubameyang] a little bit and things will change.”
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