The pivotal importance of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil to Arsenal is a hot topic these days. Talks over contract extensions for the pair have stalled amid demands for parity with the Premier League’s top earners, bringing the question of value into sharper focus.

Like any attacking player, Sanchez and Ozil’s worth is initially measured in goals and assists. Ozil scored his ninth of the season against Stoke on Saturday while Sanchez helped — rather less deliberately it must be said — create Alex Iwobi’s late third which secured a result that briefly took the Gunners to the top of the table.

They can return there this evening with victory over Everton at Goodison Park, where once again Arsenal’s resilience will be tested and Sanchez will spearhead the attack; no player has had a hand in more League goals this season with 11 goals and five assists to his name.

Iwobi told Standard Sport last week how both Sanchez and Ozil can sometimes affect a jovial demeanour when passing on advice to the club’s young players.

Now, Theo Walcott has revealed a sterner side to their characters and both aspects have had a positive effect on the squad as a whole.

“When you see Mesut and Alexis, you think, ‘I want to be better than you’,” he said. “You see how hard they work and you think that you want to do the same. You can see that in the whole team, everyone wants to do more.

“Some of the things Alexis and Mesut do on the pitch are incredible. I have played with some fantastic players in my long Arsenal career, and Alexis is definitely one I really enjoy playing with and genuinely enjoy every minute on the pitch with him. Sometimes we might have a bit of a discussion among each other, that is what you want and it is that respect for each other. Do we have a snipe at each other? Now and then. There was a particular moment at Hull, but that will stay in the dressing room.”

The Arsenal players with expiring contracts 5 show all The Arsenal players with expiring contracts 1/5 The Arsenal players with 14 months or fewer left on their contracts... Arsenal FC via Getty Images 2/5 Alexis Sanchez AFP/Getty Images 3/5 Mesut Ozil REUTERS 4/5 Santi Cazorla David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images 5/5 Jack Wilshere Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images 1/5 The Arsenal players with 14 months or fewer left on their contracts... Arsenal FC via Getty Images 2/5 Alexis Sanchez AFP/Getty Images 3/5 Mesut Ozil REUTERS 4/5 Santi Cazorla David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images 5/5 Jack Wilshere Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Walcott was reluctant to elaborate further but the incident in question is thought to be Sanchez’s decision to assume responsibility for taking penalties — following a brief contretemps —during September’s 4-1 win at the KCOM Stadium despite regular taker Santi Cazorla being present.

Sanchez missed when Arsenal were only a goal ahead and although the incident did not prove costly, manager Arsene Wenger admitted afterwards that it was “not planned for Sanchez to take it” and he wanted “to know what happened and for it not to happen again”.

Words were exchanged in the dressing room but for a team often criticised for being too passive, Walcott believes such incidents only help move them forward.

“It is good, it shows the passion we have in the team now,” he said. “We have winners and I think Alexis is a winner, he has been to Barcelona and won everything and he obviously wants us to win as well. If the passion is there, the team perform much better.”

Walcott also assesses his own game through a wider prism than just goals and assists. Wenger has previously been critical of Walcott’s reluctance to track back but an improvement in his focus has yielded more positive results at both ends of the pitch, reaching a 10-goal pre-Christmas target that earned him a new coffee machine from wife Mel.

“People offered me coffee machines when I mentioned it so the next thing is a Ferrari but nobody has offered me one yet!” he joked. “I haven’t set myself targets. The target I have set myself is how I prepare before a game, what I want to do in the game, how hard I’m going to work, and I think rewards come.

“I am not this sort of player — now anyway, back in the day I might have talked about goals and assists — and now it is all about how much you want it more than the other team. The goals and the assists will come from that.

“You guys look at goals and assists but I am genuinely looking at other parts of the play that people don’t really see. When we played Manchester United, I remember saying I was disappointed with [Juan] Mata’s goal because I felt I should have been there. Those are the things that I prefer to look at.

“They are things I am not used to doing but I can do now. If I don’t do them, I am really disappointed. If I do the dirty stuff before, I get the rewards when I go forward — that’s what I believe.”

Arsenal players have spoken of greater application and dedication in previous years only to come unstuck but it is easy to sense Walcott really means it this time.

“There is just something different about us this season — a different steel about us,” he said.

“We have got Shkodran Mustafi injured at the moment but Gabriel can come in, who is a very similar player, aggressive. Everyone is gelling well. There is a good bond in that dressing room right now — the best I’ve seen.”

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