by Mosope Ominiyi

Theo Walcott, fresh from signing a new lucrative deal with the club, has publicly stated that the Arsenal side want to ‘put a message out to the Premier League‘ with an impressive showing at this weekend’s Community Shield fixture.

Arséne Wenger’s men go head-to-head with last season’s winners, Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday afternoon. They beat Manchester City 3-0 last season, and are the silverware’s holders.

Even though the Community Shield does not hold much importance in terms of silverware itself, it has been a good barometer of success, especially for the Blues in recent years. Chelsea’s two previous victories of the Shield have resulted in season triumphs, where they clinched the league title in successive campaigns.

Walcott admitted that the game was not going to be an easy one for the Gunners, telling Arsenal Player: “It’s going to be very tight and I think both squads have improved.”

Although questions have been asked of Chelsea’s summer transfer business in relation to their direct title rivals, Walcott denied suggestions that Jose Mourinho’s men are less of a threat to play against.

“Chelsea will grow as well but I think the way that we ended the season, just the whole culture around the club now and everything about it, there’s just something special that will happen this year.”

In regards to sending out a message to the rest of the league, that Arsenal are ready to challenge for the all-important prize, he said: “We did it last year against [Manchester] City so there’s no reason we can’t do it again.”