Source: Team_Talk
Walcott: A big year lies ahead
The 20-year-old has seen his progress hampered by injury of late, preventing him from becoming a fixture for either Arsenal or England.[LNB]However, he insists he is over the niggling shoulder problems which have blighted his career to date and is ready to fulfil his undoubted potential.[LNB]With Arsenal currently flying high in the Premier League table, safely through in Europe and with the 2010 World Cup looming on the horizon, Walcott knows he needs to raise his game and prove a point to those who continue to doubt him.[LNB]He told the News of the World: "I am 21 in March and this is a defining year for me. Definitely a big year. Once you are 21, you want to be starting for your club and then hopefully your country on regular basis. [LNB]"Obviously for me, one of the highlights of my career so far is to have become the youngest player to have scored a hat-trick for England against Croatia last year.[LNB]"But I don't want to always be remembered for being the youngest England player to score a hat-trick. I need to look at that game and see what I did well and use it as a springboard. [LNB]"With the injuries I have had, it has set me back a bit since then. I need to get back to that level. I need to get more involved and I need to get more goals. [LNB]"First and foremost, I need to get a consistent run in the Arsenal side. That has to be the focus. I can't start looking too far ahead. [LNB]"So far this season has been frustrating from a personal point of view. I had no pre-season really then I have a series of unlucky injuries. But now I am back, I've had a little run so going into Christmas and the New Year I'm looking at that and saying this is when my season starts." [LNB]Walcott has also revealed that a number of rival players saw him as an easy target when he was struggling with his shoulder.[LNB]"I am definitely not injury prone - I was born with dysfunctional shoulders," he explained.[LNB]"I have had operations on both shoulders to stop them from keep popping out and I am confident now that things will be fine. [LNB]"I haven't had to change my game now but there was a time when it was affecting me. [LNB]"Once it started dislocating during a match and it was then popped back, you wouldn't see me for the rest of the game, it was that painful. It was towards the end of the season two years ago. [LNB]"The shoulders were popping out every game and I wasn't playing well. No-one knew about it but there were some games when one of the shoulders was popping out five or six times in a match. [LNB]"I have to admit I'd be drifting in and out of those games a lot. Then when it came out I was going to need an operation, a lot of players started taking advantage and whacking me around. [LNB]"Players were targeting me. It was getting too much."[LNB][LNB] Barclays Prem 2009/10 Win Outright: Arsenal 5/1
