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The former Gunners attacker is a unique voice when it comes to breaking into the first-team picture at an early age, having signed for Arsenal from Southampton at the age of 16.

Walcott was named in the England squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, just months after his Highbury move and on reflection believes everything was thrust upon him at once.

Speaking exclusively to FourFourTwo ahead of punditry duties on Amazon Prime Video’s coverage of the UEFA Champions League this week, Walcott says the current crop of young players coming through at the Emirates Stadium is ‘exciting’.

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“I look at it really differently as well, because when I came to the club, I couldn’t relate to any of the players because of my age gap. And I look at Max [Dowman] coming through, and you see Ethan [Nwaneri], a couple years older, and maybe not even that, Myles [Lewis-Skelly] again, [can] all relate, probably doing the same things together away from the game.”

Walcott’s speed and unpredictability made him a difficult customer for defences, particularly when given space to run in behind. He still regards his assist for Emmanuel Adebayor in a 2008 Champions League tie versus Liverpool as ‘my goal’ having dribbled almost the length of the pitch and past several Reds players before laying it on a plate for the Togolese striker.

Theo Walcott skips past Xabi Alonso (Image credit: Getty Images)

“That’s an assist,” Walcott tells FFT. “You know, when you see players, like Reece James touched it to [Neto] the other day, and that’s an assist. Okay, I suppose it touched you last but when I look at assists, that goal, dribbling past those players – and when you see Saka, and he goes past you and he cuts it back to someone or whatever – they’re the real assists for me.

“That goal I can still re-live it constantly in my mind. I can just picture all the players that are running after me, the players that missed the ball, and [Steven] Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Mascherano, and Adebayor’s dance, the slap I got from Cesc Fabregas still hurts to this day, but it was great.

“A lot of people are, ‘Oh, Theo Walcott’s decision-making at times’, but those people may not be able to run as fast as that. Everyone has different attributes, and they make decisions their own way. And I don’t think there would have been any other player to do [that].”

Arsenal host Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday night with Walcott featuring pitchside alongside presenter Alex Aljoe and comedian Jack Whitehall.

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Fans may not be seeing AAA’s Octagon Jr. in the ring any time soon as it appears that the luchador…

A so-called “friendly†between Como 1907 and Real Betis turned anything but, descending into a full-blown brawl that saw punches thrown, red cards handed out, and even a teammate accidentally getting caught in the crossfire.

The drama erupted just before halftime at the Estadio Municipal de La Línea de la Concepción in Cádiz. Two heavy challenges on Betis stars Giovani Lo Celso and Isco lit the fuse, sparking a heated clash between both squads.

Como midfielder Maxi Perrone and Betis’ Pablo Fornals exchanged punches, as players from both teams swarmed in. Amid the scuffle, Betis striker Cucho Hernández aimed a punch at a Como player – only to accidentally land it on his own teammate, Natan. A truly painful case of friendly fire.

There were punches thrown during a recent match between Real Betis and Como. / Fran Santiago/GettyImages

The referee initially sent off Perrone and Héctor Bellerín, though the red card for Bellerín was later reversed and issued to Fornals instead – much to Bellerínâ€s visible frustration.

The match eventually resumed, with Como – coached by Cesc Fàbregas – sealing a 3-2 win thanks to a stoppage-time goal from Iván Azón.

Como now head into their clash with Barcelona in the Joan Gamper Trophy, while Betis continue preparations with a final tune-up against Málaga. But after this dust-up, both clubs might be focusing as much on anger management as tactics.

Horrible scenes in the real Betis vs como friendly as players throw punches 🥊 pic.twitter.com/bkPBNfq6I4

— Ayim Derrick (@Derrick_Ayim10) August 6, 2025

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Kedar Jadhav said he varies his action according the batsman so as to make it difficult to read. (AFP Photo) VISAKHAPATNAM: From a specialist batsman to someone whose off-breaks are proving to be more than handy, Kedar Jadhav believes that the key to his transformation is accepting challenges and knowing how to overcome it.
Jadhav has bowled 18 overs in four games taking six wickets for 73 runs at a decent economy rate of 4.05.
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“It’s all about taking this responsibility and accepting the challenge that comes at you and then, coming out of the challenge successfully,” Jadhav said on the eve of their fifth and final One-dayer against New Zealand.
ALSO READ: Kedar Jadhav happy to grab ‘great opportunity’
Jadhav, who’s playing in place of an indisposed Suresh Raina, bowled for the first time in international cricket when MS Dhoni gave him the ball ahead of the regular spin duo of Axar Patel and Amit Mishra on a seaming Dharamsala track in the first one-dayer.
“Here, you need to contribute if the captain is asking you to bowl (some) overs. You don’t have to bowl (just) as a part-time bowler. You need to take the responsibility with the ball or bat,” Jadhav said.
“I guess when you play for India, you have to contribute in every possible way you can. While playing in the IPL, I do that with wicketkeeping — by contributing rather than batting,” Jadhav said.
Jadhav said he varies his action according the batsman so as to make it difficult to read.
“It’s both – a bit of my action and the pace I vary according to the batsmen that makes it difficult (for them) to read I guess. Mahi bhai asked me to bowl. Obviously, Mahi wants a few bowlers from the top five or six batsmen to bowl at least 4-5 overs. If a bowler has a bad day, it helps (the team) you know.”
Jadhav who got out for a duck in the fourth ODI in Ranchi is yet to click as a batsman and he said he’s to learn quickly. Youngster Manish Pandey too is missing among runs and Jadhav said they would have to get into their act soon.
“Obviously, the opportunity has been missed, especially in the last game. But it’s still early stages for Manish (Pandey) and me. We need to grab whatever opportunity is thrown at us. We need to learn quickly from the opportunities we have missed. That’s what international cricket is all about – delivering when it matters most to the team.”
An attacking middle-order batsman, Jadhav who came into the limelight with a 29-ball-50 for Delhi Daredevils on his IPL debut, also spoke about his favourite sweep shot.
“Sweep is a natural shot to me. It’s my strength. If a spinner is bowling to my pads in the middle overs and when you don’t wanna take too many high-risk shots.
“That’s the shot which you can take when the bowler tries to bowl outside the leg stump or off stump. You can paddle it out because we have 4 fielders on the leg side and behind the square, you have only one (fielder). If you pass that fielder, you get a sure-shot boundary. It’s a good shot to play when the bowlers attack my pads.”
Jadhav also backed their batting unit which looks too much dependent on Virat Kohli.
“Virat is a great player and it’s always nice if he scores. It makes life easy for the batsmen coming next to get whatever runs (possible). But it’s not like that (we’re overdependent on him). We have too many quality batsmen in the team and we need to deliver whenever we get the opportunity.”
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