Theo Walcott believes the current Arsenal side is the best he has been part of since joining the club, following their 3-1 win over Stoke City at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

Both sides were guilty of losing the ball cheaply in the opening exchanges as the game started at a brisk pace with Stoke defender Marc Muniesa coming close to opening the scoring in the sixth minute when his 30-yard shot just skimmed the crossbar.




Arsenal also created pressure on the Stoke goal and Lee Grant was forced into making a good save when Walcott had a clear sight of goal in the first 15 minutes.

However, the breakthrough as from Granit Xhaka fouled Joe Allen inside the box to give away a penalty, which was duly converted by Charlie Adam to give the lead to the away side.
 


Arsenal tried to apply more pressure and eventually equalised when Walcott glanced the ball in at the near post from a good cross from Hector Bellerin just before half-time; it was his 100th goal for the Gunners.  

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And the home side took the lead four minutes after the break when Mesut Ozil headed in a wonderfully chipped ball from Alexis Sanchez to provide joy to the Arsenal faithful.

Stoke almost found the equaliser, but were denied by the outstretched hands of Petr Cech when Peter Crouch’s header looked destined for the back of the net.

And three minutes later Arsenal more or less wrapped up the game when Alex Iwobi slipped in their third goal to seal the win for the Gunners.

Walcott is pleased to get all three points from the game and believes the club are going in the right direction, insisting that this is the best Arsenal team he has been part of.

The forward was quoted as saying by the BBC: "It’s a good three points, really important. I think when you put on an Arsenal shirt on you should be breeding confidence.

“It is the best team I have ever been involved in, the fans are part of that, we want to do well for them and well for each other.

"That comes down to hard work and you get rewarded for it in the end.

“Everything about this club is in a good place at the moment.”

With Chelsea playing on Sunday, Arsenal have moved up to the top of the league table momentarily with the win over Stoke.