Walcott Swapped Shirts With Van Persie In Tunnel To Avoid Fan Backlash

Arsenal winger Theo Walcott avoided a potential backlash from the Emirates faithful after waiting until he was safely inside the tunnel before swapping shirts with old pal Robin van Persie on Sunday, according to the Daily Mail.

I’m sure we all remember the abuse Andre Santos got for swapping shirts with RVP as the pair walked off the pitch at half time during the reverse fixture at Old Trafford earlier in the season. The Brazilian left fans, and his manager Arsene Wenger, furious and many were glad to see the back of him when he was loaned back to Brazil in January.

It seems Walcott learned from this incident by not only waiting until after the full-time whistle but also until the players were down the tunnel before trading jersey’s with the Dutchman after Sunday’s 1-1 draw at the Emirates.

Theo was seen to be wearing a Man Utd shirt in his post-match interview after opening the scoring and the Mail claim it was his former team-mates Van Persie’s – who levelled the game with a penalty just before the break.

Swapping shirts is customary in the game so fans should have no issue with Theo doing so with van Persie after the game. Presumably the England attacker thought it best to wait until he was safely down the tunnel just to be on the safe side.

The main issue with Santos was that he made the swap at half time – which is a big no-no – and I’m sure we won’t see any other players making that mistake in a hurry. Particularly with Arsenal’s new ‘enemy No.1’, RVP.