Arsenal’s Theo Walcott: Partnership with Alexis Sanchez ‘very positive’

Arsenal forward Theo Walcott says his partnership with Alexis Sanchez is flourishing because of a greater understanding of how they should play together.

Sanchez set up Walcott for both goals on Wednesday as the Gunners beat Basel 2-0 in the Champions League, and the pair caused problems for the visiting defence with their pace throughout the game.

It was a similar story against Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday, when they scored a goal each in the 3-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium.

“The combinations between me and him are very positive at this moment in time,” Walcott told Arsenal’s official website.

“We seem to sort of know when we play off each other quite well. If he comes short, I go long and we’ve just got a good sort of combinations.”

Sanchez has been used as a central striker this season as Olivier Giroud has struggled with his fitness and is keeping new signing Lucas Perez out of the starting lineup.

While he struggled in that role for the first two games of the campaign, the Chile international now has five goals and four assists in his last five starts. Walcott has also scored five goals this season, including four in his last three games.

“Clean sheets are going to win games because we’re going to score plenty of goals,” Walcott said. “That combination between me and Alexis, it’s boding well but it’s obviously still very early into the season, so hopefully we can all stay fit and it’s going to be a good run.

“It’s started off very well. The whole team has tended to play very well together, and when we lose the ball everyone tries to be first to get it back. That starts from Alexis at the top and he sets the pace for us all, and it seems to be clicking at this moment in time.”