Walcott to return to training England ace closes on first-team action following shoulder injury Last updated: 28th February 2009

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that England star Theo Walcott is scheduled to return to full training on Monday.

The forward has been sidelined since November after injuring his shoulder on international duty, which later required surgery.

Walcott was confident he would be ready for first-team action by the end of February and the youngster looks set to only narrowly miss that expectation.

The news will come as an additional boost for the Gunners, with captain Cesc Fabregas also closing on full fitness following knee ligament damage.

Theo will join in on normal training on Monday and then we will see how he behaves with challenges," said Wenger.
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Wenger happy with strike force Gunners boss unfazed by goal drought

Arsene Wenger insists he has 'no big problem' with his misfiring strikers and has backed them to come good.

Arsenal will be looking to stretch a 14-match unbeaten run when they host Fulham on Saturday, hoping to force their way back into the hunt for a top-four finish.

However, the Gunners have failed to find the target in each of their last three Premier League fixtures, while the last time they forced a breakthrough at home was back on 10th January against Bolton.

That inability to take chances has cost the club dear, forcing them into fifth spot in the table, six points off the UEFA Champions League places.

Wenger, though, maintains complete faith in his attacking unit and expects the current drought to come to an end sooner rather than later.

"We do not put any special pressure on a guy who misses a goal chance. The bigger you make a problem, the bigger it becomes. We remind them they have the quality," said the Frenchman.

"I remember teams who concede goals in the final five minutes and the more you say to them 'we don't want to concede goals in the last five minutes', the more it becomes a problem and the more you concede goals.

"So you just have to be natural, spontaneous and believe in what you do and your ability."

Wenger added: "Sometimes you have to take a distance from a problem and just think 'lets play well'.

"We have scored plenty of goals and it happens to any team to have a spell where you score a little bit less."
Consistency

Despite recent setbacks hindering the club's progress, Wenger is confident that Arsenal will be playing Champions League football next term.

"In football, nothing is unthinkable, but I am confident we will make the Champions League," he said.

"There are 12 games to go. If we keep our consistency, spirit and attitude, and our focus, we will make it.

"It is down to us to be consistent.

"We have 36 points to take, so let's not speculate too much on the weakness of any other team. If we win our games, we will be there."

Wenger added: "I never consider failure. With the potential of our players and everything at the club, I have more reasons to be an optimist than a pessimist."
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Premier: Neither could save andalusia Arshavin Arsenal (0-0) The London team played a miserable tie with Sunderland's modest, debut in a match where

Arsenal-Sunderland (0-0).

The party was unable to finish the best. Vibrated around the Emirates Stadium with the debut of the star signing of the Premier in the winter. Andrei Arshavin was presented with the shirt of Arsenal and was erected as the hope of recovering the football team.

But in the aspect of soccer where the team is still Gunner fails. We must recognize that the Russian premiere of the gem was very promising. The striker had a lot of participation in the game and was able to be responsible for the victory. However, led by Arsene Wenger have lost that magic technique that will break the locks pemitía defensive and, despite fetch the result for ninety minutes, he returned to finish a duel without goals.

In this way, the team added its third tie London consecutive zero and equal fourth in a row in the Premiership. Numbers too troubling for a team that aspires to be able to take the title or, failing that, to qualify for the next Champions League.

Meanwhile, the Black Cats did their business. Joined at a point comeback in the classification and made another break away from the area teams. Never bet on the victory and took the trophy I want.

In the first stage, the euphoria of seeing Arshavin in the playing field was matched with the great speeches of the Russian offensive in the area. At 15 minutes, the small tip took a violent shooting that happened just near the left pole of the goal.

Then, overwhelmed by the rookie right and sent a millimeter center Bendtner for the striker heading the ball high and cause an anthology of rehazo goalkeeper Fulop. The connection between the two points are quite promising for the future.

Thus, the second went the same script with the only difference that Arsenal are desperate much. Robin van Persie was in charge of solving the game, but the figure of the goalkeeper was too fast. The Dutch had three plays to make clear, but Fulop was determined to maintain its zero in the goal.

So, little by little rain hisses were heard more strongly. Gallas was improvised as a forward. Carlos Vela, who had entered by Arshavin, clearly deviated from a left-handed shot. Until the time was fulfilled and a new 0-0 punished the Gunners.

It was more of the same for Arsenal. Neither the Russian debut of the jewel could escape the drought. Still improve, Wenger, and much ...

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