Theo Walcott: Champions League teams won't want to draw Arsenal

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Vaishali Bhardwaj12 December 2016

Theo Walcott believes no team left in the Champions League will want to draw Arsenal in the round of 16 because of the Gunners' fine current form.

The Gunners topped their group, finishing two points above French giants Paris Saint-Germain, and they could now draw holders Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Sevilla, Porto, Bayer Leverkusen or Benfica.

Despite the fact that Arsenal have exited the Champions League at the round of 16 stage for the last six seasons in a row to Barcelona (twice), Monaco, Bayern (twice) and AC Milan, Walcott believes the Gunners are a different threat this season.

Arsenal sit just three points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea in the standings and haven't lost a top-flight game since the opening day of the season.

And Walcott said: "You have to play the best.

"We won the group. We did what we were asked to do. That’s all we can do and it’s the hands of whatever now — whoever picks those balls out of the hat.

"Who knows? But I don’t think many teams will want to play us. We have got a very strong squad, we are playing good football in the Champions League.

"When you see Arsenal have won their group you won’t want to play them, so it won’t matter who we play. We just have to make sure we play the right stuff and work better than them."

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