Arsenal finished the season and their last home game on a high with a 4-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion.
Arsenala s Theo Walcott, who was given a start in place of Olivier Giroud, was on the rampage, scoring a hatrick in the first half, with Jack Wilshere adding a goal of his own. Both players were coming off long injuries and scoring a goal at the end of the season would have instilled some much needed confidence. West Brom added a goal of their own in the second half, but it was pretty much game over by then.
Regarding Theo Walcott, Arsene Wenger said, a He was already sharp when he came on in our midweek game against Sunderland. He was the one who created the chances and I always said that he could play through the middle because he has good movement, good finishing and he did that well today.
Hea s a good goalscorer but he has been out for a year. A year in football is a long, long time and it takes more time to come back to your best so that you are sharp and confident. Jack is a bit similar. He has been out for six months and now he is coming back. He had a very convincing performance in the first half.
Hea s the right age [to play through the middle]. Hea s 26 years old, ita s a good age for a footballer. I wish that he stays free of injuries now. He had a few downs on the injury front and thata s never good. You have to be consistently present to express your full potential.a
With regards to the emphatic win against West Brom, Arsene said, We have played some quality games but recently we havena t been able to score. Today, every chance we created we scored in a convincing way. The first half was of top quality. After half-time we tried to keep going but we eased off a bit and the second half was less convincing, but we still had chances. They had one or two as well. Overall we did the job well today and we finished the season on a high. Now we can focus on the FA Cup final and come back next season.a
Coming back to Walcott and his Arsenal contract situation, Arsene said, a Without his hat-trick or with his hat-trick, we want him to stay. We are in negotiations and we have started to speak with his agent. We did that before he scored his hat-trick. Last time he got injured he was playing centre forward in a very convincing game against Tottenham Hotspur in January. He got injured and was out for a year. On that day he was injured playing up front.a
Regarding his summer plans for Arsenal, Arsene said, a We hope that everyone comes back from international duty in good shape. We have to start strong and we can prepare for that well now because we have no qualifier for the Champions League. Wea ll see if we can do something to strengthen the team after.a