Chelsea defender Gary Cahill captained England for the first time on Friday night, and was on the winning side courtesy of goals from Arsenal’s Theo Walcott and Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling.

Cahill has had a difficult start to the season with the Blues, so he’d have been relieved that Walcott helped the team into the lead in what was proving to be a difficult game against Estonia.

“Once you delay the attack and they get back in it’s very difficult to break them down. We still created chances and kept plugging away, which is encouraging, and we kept pushing for the important goal,” Cahill told the official FA website after the match.

“[Theo]’s banging goals in. It was a very nice finish and a great ball from Ross [Barkley] who was superb tonight.”

Walcott’s goal was his seventh of the season, and his third in his last two England appearances. The forward has nailed down a starting role for Arsenal, leading the line for Arsène Wenger’s side, and seems to be thriving under the added responsibility.

Learning his role, Walcott is becoming stronger at protecting the ball and brought others into play with his passing as well as his movement again at Wembley. If this continues, England and Arsenal can both expect big things of him before the season is over.