In-form Arsenal star Theo Walcott has insisted that Bayern Munich should be afraid of facing the Gunners in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League.
The English giants have been eliminated from the continental championship at the last-16 stage in each of the past six seasons — five times to some of the European heavyweights like Bayern, Barcelona (twice each) and AC Milan.
And they are now in danger of bowing out of the last 16 of the tournament after being pitted against Bayern but Walcott, although admitting that the fixture will be tough said that Arsene Wenger’s men will give the German giants a tough time.
As quoted in The Sun, Walcott said: “They won’t want to play Arsenal. But I’m not going to lie when I say that it’s going to be a very difficult game.
“We won the group, we did what we asked to do, and the one time we won the group we got Bayern! If we’d come second we could have got Barcelona. “Obviously PSG got them. It’s the luck of the draw.
“We’ve just got to look at ourselves, think how we’ve improved this season compared to the seasons we’ve played against them recently.”
The Gunners have not lost a game this season since the 4-3 defeat to Liverpool on the opening day of the Premier League and Walcott said that the current team is in much better form than the one that was thrashed 5-1 at Allianz Arena last year.
Walcott added: “We lost 5-1 last year at their place and we can’t be doing stuff like that.
“But we’re a lot more resilient this year. I can’t really see that happening. We’re a lot more focused and dedicated. We’ll give them a good game, definitely.”
He also said that playing the second leg at the Emirates will be a huge boost.
He said: “That is key. I think when you go there, we will feel what they’re like, try to get a steady result if we can. “When you’re at home for the second game, you have that support, you know what to expect. It gives us another opportunity to actually go through. “
“When you’re at home for the second game, you have that support, you know what to expect. It gives us another opportunity to actually go through,” he added.