Arsenal star has accepted that his teammate Olivier Giroud will be frustrated for not being included in the starting eleven despite impressive performances in recent matches.

The France striker has seen Alexis Sanchez become Arsene Wenger’s first-choice centre-forward this season and has only made one start after returning late from Euro 2016 and then suffering a toe injury while playing against Paris Saint-Germain in September. However, the way he has performed in the last few games, he would have expected to start but so far he has only been used as a substitute.

Coming off the bench after recovering from the injury, the French international scored twice against Sunderland. He made even a bigger impact in the next game by scoring the equaliser against Manchester United. He also scored in the 2-2 draw against Paris Saint-Germain and then provided an assist in Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Bournemouth.

Walcott said:“Olivier’s strengths are fantastic.”

“I know he will be frustrated with the amount of games he has not played but, if you look at his scoring record and how effective he has been when he has been on the pitch – again [on Sunday against Bournemouth], coming off the bench and grabbing an assist.

“It just shows he keeps on reminding the manager what he can do,” he added.

However, any chance of him getting the nod ahead of Sanchez is looking extremely bleak. The Chile international scored twice in the win over Bournemouth last week and took his goal tally to 8 this term. Apart from the goals, he has also registered three assists and it is very likely that he will be preferred as the first choice centre-forward,at least for the time being.