to add to this, from the guardian:
Theo Walcott can make it as Arsenal's main striker, says Arsène Wenger
• He would love to play in the middle, says Wenger
• Fábregas, Song, Denilson and Arshavin miss Shakhtar game
The Arsenal manager believes there are similarities between Theo Walcott, above, and Thierry Henry. Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Action Images
Theo Walcott studies DVDs of Thierry Henry in the years he became Arsenal's record goalscorer but these days the young man is close to becoming the club's main striker himself, according to the manager Arsène Wenger.
Walcott is still only 21, the same age as Henry when he signed in August 1999 to rejoin Wenger, who first spotted his fellow Frenchman's potential as a 15-year-old, when he was in charge of Monaco. Henry arrived at Highbury as a winger who had lost his way at Juventus and Wenger transformed him into the striker who piled up 226 goals before departing eight years later.
Against Shakhtar Donetsk tomorrow night Wenger fields a team without his captain, Cesc Fábregas, who has a hamstring niggle, as well as Alex Song (calf), Denílson (groin) and Andrey Arshavin (virus). The manager, though, is clear that Walcott will start and Wenger believes there are similarities between Henry and the Englishman, who has also began his career operating from the flanks.
"Theo would love to play in the middle," Wenger said. "Don't forget that when Thierry Henry came here, he was a winger. When I played Henry as a central striker, he said to me: 'But I can't score goals.' It's difficult to compare the similarities – is Thierry a replica of Theo? Is Theo a replica of Thierry? No. But they have in common tremendous pace, they are good finishers and both are intelligent.
"He [Walcott] is very close to playing that striker role. You know the two goals he scored against Newcastle [in the League Cup last week], they were typical of a striker who plays on a counter-attack. But when I play with only one up front you like a guy who is good in the air sometimes, [for] when you kick it longer."
To emulate Henry, Walcott would have to consistently score 20 goals a season. "He can be prolific as once he is a yard in front of the defender, who can catch him?" Wenger said. "It looks to me that Theo has a calmness in front of goal. Before he rushed his decision, but now he is different."
Walcott's former billing as Arsenal's burning new talent now belongs to Jack Wilshere, who on Monday signed a five-year deal, reportedly worth about £50,000 a week. He should also start against Shakhtar and if Arsenal win, they will be through to the knock-out stages.
Eduardo da Silva should line up for Shakhtar although he is denying that since breaking a leg playing for Arsenal in 2008, his abilities have declined. "Before, when people looked at my performance, they focused only on the things I did well – they used to overlook the errors," he said. "Now, after my injury, they concentrate on the errors and it's my good side that they neglect. But I made mistakes before the injuries and I make them now."
