The Arsenal striker Theo Walcott has urged his teammates improve their performance in the upcoming weeks if they are to achieve their mission of finishing in the top four. After the recent 2-1 defeat at the hands of Chelsea during the weekend, Arsenal have fallen seven points behind the top four positions. Hence, there is a real danger of the club missing out on the Champions League next season. The manager Arsene Wenger has been able to get Arsenal into this competition on consecutive occasions in the last 16 seasons, which is a record that very few clubs in Europe can boast.

Missing out on the Champions League next season will have disastrous consequences on Arsenal given that they rely heavily upon the finances from this competition. Playing in the group stages of the Champions League alone is expected to be worth around £ 30 million. The pressure on Wenger will also certainly increase if he does not qualify for the competition given that he has placed a lot of emphasis on qualifying for this competition rather than winning trophies like the League Cup. As a result, Walcott has urged his Arsenal teammates to step up the mark in the next couple of weeks in order to close the gap on the clubs like Tottenham.

“There are a lot of teams that have got stronger this year, so we need to step on the gas. We don’t want to be playing catch-up. We want to get points on the board. We have a tough game at home against West Ham so we need to be ready. It is a massive game, we have home support and we need to start clocking up points there. We have been hot and cold at home of late so we must be very positive and if we show the commitment that we did in the second half against Chelsea we should be fine,” said Walcott.