It will be up there since the knee injury and, before that, the Tottenham game. I have always said I want to play up front. When I get the opportunity I can improve and learn the position a little more. The manager has had faith in me and I just want to repay him.

We just continued to just play our game. We knew we’d create chances on the counter attack. We knew they would come for us, especially as they were at home.

We were patient and it was important that we did not panic. We got that [equalising] goal to get back into the game. After that we played with a lot of freedom and we took all our chances.

Walcott produced an outstanding display and it was his best performance as a central striker to date. Against the ponderous pair of Wes Morgan and Robert Huth, he was always likely to cause problems with his runs in-behind. However, what was particularly noteworthy was the way he sought to match their physicality.

The England international showed a hitherto-unseen willingness and ability to hold the ball up and bring others into play. It seems that Walcott must have spent a good deal of the time he spent rehabbing from anterior cruciate ligament surgery working on his upper body strength.

Right now, it’s difficult to envisage Giroud displacing Walcott for the Champions League tie with Olympiacos. Arsenal seem to pose a more varied threat when they employ the speed of the Englishman rather than the sturdiness of the Frenchman. What’s more, Walcott is beginning to show that his game is about more than just pace.