When you’re chasing a game away from home, with an opponent that sits deep, it’s difficult to see how sending on Theo Walcott will make much difference.

The England international is at his best exploiting the space behind defences, but when there’s no space his impact is limited, to say the least.

However, Arsene Wenger explained his thinking when he brought on Walcott as the Gunners chased an equaliser during the 1-0 defeat to Stoke on Saturday.

“I wanted to put Walcott on because he can cross for Giroud,” he said. As it was Walcott made no crosses and his only involvement were three short passes in the 15 minutes or so that he spent on the pitch.

And the manager urged people to retain a measure of calm despite the disappointing nature of the defeat.

“Let’s not go overboard,” he said. “We lost one game. I can understand that but overall I believe there were a lot of positives in the game as well because we created many chances.

“We had great domination and unfortunately we dropped three points.”