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ESPN staff 8y

Arsenal's Theo Walcott ready to prove himself after Arsene Wenger meeting

Theo Walcott has said that a meeting with Arsene Wenger over the summer has renewed his focus to succeed with Arsenal.

Walcott struggled to break back into the Arsenal team on a regular basis after returning from injury last season but he has taken his chance so far this campaign, starting all six Premier League games.

"Me and the manager sat down [in the summer] and I've just looked at myself," Walcott is quoted by the Guardian as saying. "There's no point dwelling on the past -- that's what I'm like. I've just been working tremendously hard and I know what I can do. It's just come down to that to be fair.

"I want this team to do well and you can see that in my desire and the way that I'm playing at the moment. I want it more than anyone else, but that's just me and the way that I work now. It's a shame, maybe it should have hit me a few years ago because there's been a slight change in my whole attitude.

"I just want to be better and better. People have had so much faith in me and you never give up and I tend to think I need to repay people. But I also think I need to do it for myself now. Maybe in the past I was thinking about others and not myself."

Walcott has put his desire to play centre-forward to the side and is now happy to play across the frontline in an effort to help Arsenal.

"I can play anywhere across the line," he said. "But I wanted to go back to what I know best and the manager's put so much faith in me by playing me on the right-hand side, but I need to keep on repaying that faith.

"I'm going to keep working really hard because there's competition for places when you're at such a top club like Arsenal. I'm just making sure that I want it more and that's what it comes down to."

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