Arsenal Boost As Attacker Pencilled In To Make Playing Comeback

Arsenal attacker Theo Walcott is set to make his long-awaited playing comeback when he starts against Blackburn Under-21’s on Friday night, according to the Telegraph.

Walcott has been on the sidelines for over nine months since rupturing the cruciate ligament in his knee during an FA Cup clash with Tottenham way back in early January.

The 25-year-old returned to full training on Monday and many fans were wondering if he would be in contention to face Hull City at the Emirates on Saturday afternoon.

However, the Telegraph claim that Theo will start for the Under-21’s against Blackburn on Friday night with the aim of playing around an hour.

Depending on how he responds to his first game-time in over nine months, the newspaper suggests that Arsene Wenger could then decide to put him on the bench against Hull the following day.

I personally feel this would be far too risky and we’d be better served just giving Walcott some recuperation time after the Under-21 game and then put him on the bench against Anderlecht next Wednesday, but we’ll have to see what the boss decides to do.

Walcott’s imminent return is a HUGE boost as we’ve sorely missed him while he’s been on the treatment table and his availability coincides with Mesut Ozil being ruled out for around two months with his own knee injury.

It means that Wenger is likely to line-up with Santi Cazorla in the middle, Alexis Sanchez on the left and Walcott on the right in the coming weeks, which is a fearsome-looking attack despite the absence of Ozil.