Theo Walcott says Friday’s game against Arsenal will be emotional for him, but he has to put his current club first and try to win.

After a couple of draws in their last two games, Arsenal will be looking to get back to winning ways at home to Southampton on Friday.

But whilst the Gunners are chasing a long-awaited Premier League title, Southampton have their own motivation for the fixture.

The Saints sit bottom of the Premier League, four points away from escaping the relegation zone. With seven games remaining, it’s still possible for them to stay up, but only if they start picking up points immediately.

As a result, it was no real surprise to hear Theo Walcott telling the media he needs to put his personal feelings towards Arsenal aside on Friday.

“It will be an emotional game for myself, personally,” Walcott said.

“But I’ve got to go out there and do a job and that’s to try and play as well and as hard as I can for this club and see where that takes us.

“Arsenal are top of the league for a reason, we get that. We’re realists, I am particularly, so we’re not stupid, we know it will be a tough game.

“But a Friday night game, you never know. Hopefully, we’ll catch them in a doze but we’ll see. It’s going to be a very interesting battle.”

This is far from Walcott’s first return to the Emirates Stadium since leaving Arsenal, but it’s been a while since he’s played at the ground in front of the home support.

Walcott didn’t feature in last season’s Arsenal fixture for Southampton, he played in an empty stadium during the pandemic the year before, and he was injured the year before that.

The winger’s last game at the Emirates in front of the Arsenal fans was four-and-a-half years ago, a 2-0 defeat with Everton in 2018.

As much as most Arsenal fans will probably be wishing Walcott well with the rest of the season, a similar result to that 2-0 win on Friday would be very welcome.