Theo Walcott is now Arsenal’s longest serving player, and says the team are back to how they used to be after a tough start to the season.

Now, I’m not sure if he was referring to how we were at the end of last season, how we were five years ago, or how we were a decade ago but the striker seemed pretty buoyant about the club being ‘back’.

Despite scoring, the Englishman was quick to highlight the importance of the clean sheet at the other end, which was the third in a row for Petr Čech and the Arsenal defence.

“In the end we had a clean sheet and that’s always the most important goal,” Walcott said after the match.

“We know we’re going to score goals and we know we’re going to create chances as well. We create chances so we just have to put them away. We’re starting to get back to the old Arsenal. We’re very pleased after this game.”

Plenty of chances were created on Saturday, with Walcott himself having the opportunities to net even more than just the opener.

Though he was frustrated by his own finishing, the Englishman was pleased to see fellow striker Olivier Giroud score the second of the game after he came off the bench.

“It’s nice to see Olivier among the goals as well, which shows it’s great competition that we have for places here. Everyone is staying fit as well which is important. We want everyone to stay fit with this important Premier League run.”