Wenger thrilled by more mature Walcott

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is “very excited” by the form of Theo Walcott after the talented teenager helped turn the game against stubborn Bolton.

The Gunners recorded an 11th straight victory which keeps them top of the Premier League, but only after some stern resistance from the managerless visitors at Emirates Stadium.

Wenger introduced Walcott just after the hour mark, and it proved a key substitution as the pace of the England Under-21 winger helped stretch the Bolton defence.

Kolo Toure drilled in a 25-yard strike to open the scoring after 68 minutes, with substitute Tomas Rosicky wrapping up the points with a close-range effort after Walcott had gone on a darting run into the area.

His manager has been more than impressed by the 18-year-old’s progress following an operation on his shoulder during the summer.

Wenger said: “He has found the injection of pace he had before and he uses his body better.

“When you see what he brings when he came on, you are very excited.

“I see him playing through the middle eventually, but I played [Alexander] Hleb there today because there was so little space.

“Certainly Theo has benefited mentally rather than ’footballistically’, but maturity-wise it helped him.”

Walcott has certainly come a long way since he shot into the media spotlight following a high-profile move from Southampton and his subsequent inclusion in Sven-Goran Eriksson’s England squad for 2006 World Cup.

Wenger reflected: “He saw how little forgiveness there is when you don’t perform. As a young kid, you don’t imagine football is like that.

“You need to give people time and allow them to see what’s important in the game.

“Everything was new for him last year, but he is growing into a man now.

“It has all happened very quickly and now he has realised things are not always easy in life and football.

“I wasn’t worried because it looked like his feet were on the ground.

“He has character. He looks like he’s not naturally aggressive, but he responds when he has to.”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger praised his side for holding their nerve to finally break down Bolton, who adopted a physical approach to try to unsettle the home team.

He said: “We have good momentum and I like that.

“We built the success with patience, a high tempo and handling our nerves.

“The game was hectic, so it was important we kept calm and kept playing. That was a good sign of maturity.”

The Arsenal manager added: “Bolton have upset us in previous years. They were resilient today, and they have lots of tricks – Campo, Nolan, McCann, they have all gone through a lot.

“They know when to foul, when to pull the shirt so it was important not to lose our nerve.”

Bolton, meanwhile, remain deep in trouble at the wrong end of the table.

Veteran Scottish coach Archie Knox is in temporary charge following the departure of Sammy Lee earlier in the week, and looked to have set his side out well as Bolton matched Arsenal for the first hour.

“We gave a good account of ourselves and we were aggressive, but we needed something to hang on to and once we went behind we were always facing an uphill struggle, because Arsenal are a quality team,” he said.

The likes of Steve Bruce, Chris Coleman, Gary Megson and Paul Jewell have all been linked with the vacancy, following the departure of Lee.

“The club will want to get someone in place as soon as possible,” said Knox.

“We’re not in a good position – everyone accepts and recognises that – but there’s still a good atmosphere in the dressing room, despite all the nonsense that has been spoken about rifts.

“I have never seen a punch-up in the dressing room – there’s nothing like that,” Knox added: “You never enjoy a situation when you are down at the bottom of the league – but we have to get on with it.

“We have to focus on the next game and see what we can achieve there.”