Walcott: 'Roy showed faith, now I want to repay him'

Theo Walcott arrived in Dublin on Saturday looking to continue where he left off with Arsenal in last week's FA Cup Final.

Now, as he prepares for the Three Lions meeting with Republic of Ireland at the Aviva Stadium, he says he would love a chance to spearhead Roy Hodgson's attack.

"We ended the season very strongly with Arsenal and that gives me confidence for these England games," said the 26-year-old.

"I scored a goal in an FA Cup Final and the manager had the faith to play me up front, so there's no reason not to be positive.

"Wenger would have seen me every day in training and coming off the back of the performance a week before, I don't think the manger had much choice really.

"Sometimes things don't go to plan, but that last league game everything went my way. The next thing is to take that form and reproduce it for England."

Walcott continued: "Positionally, I know the manager has options. Charlie [Austin] and Wayne [Rooney], but I can do a job up there. It's come together quite nicely over the last few games.

"I would prefer to play up front, but it doesn't always work in different games. At times you might need to play with someone else up front as well.

"It's up to the manager how the game is planned out tactically. I can do a job up front, but I can also play on the right or left. It's a good option for the manager to have."

Walcott has 38 England caps over a nine-year span

An injury at the start of 2014 meant a lengthy lay-off for both club and country as Walcott missed almost a whole year of football.

He returned to the England team for the March games against Lithuania and Italy, playing up front, and though he admits things did not go as well as planned, he has been working hard on the training pitch to improve.

And he has also had a world-class talent to learn from.

"I've had a long time out, and after training each day I would always practice," revealed the former Southampton starlet.

"I'd see Alexis [Sanchez] practising even on warm-down days, and I would join in at times.

"A lot of players will look at him and think 'what is he doing?' He has played 50 games and he is out every day training, but that is just his mentality.

"He sees the ball like a little kid and wants to play with it. That's the way it is but that it is great, seeing some players doing a bit more."

Walcott continued: "We tried something different [against Italy]. It was the first time I played up front for two years and it was in a different team as well.

"I’m not making excuses – I enjoyed my moment playing up front, it was a totally different formation, and it’s something we might get used to.

"Sometimes it will work, sometimes it wont – that game it didn’t. I know that and I didn’t dwell on it.

"When I went back to club football I concentrated on it, performed well, and now I’m back here and hoping for an opportunity to make it right."

Walcott earned his debut for England nine years ago, aged just 17, but it was two years before he played again. 

Theo Walcott celebrates his opener in The FA Cup Final

Injuries have prevented him from earning more than his current tally of 38 for the Three Lions, but he is now focused on becoming a regular within Roy Hodgson's set-up.

"I've been around the England camp for a long time," he admitted.

"I’ve reached 300 appearances for Arsenal and 38 caps for England. You’ve seen patches of [what I can do] and I just need to be a bit more consistent now.

"This is a very successful England team at the moment, having been undefeated in eight games.

"We've now got Ireland and Slovenia coming up, but Roy has already mentioned to us that there will be friendlies against the best teams.

"He wants to pit his best players against the best players in the world, and that's going to test where we are as a nation.

"It will also improve us going into the tournament, knowing that we can deal with the big teams."

He added: "It's great that the manager has showed faith in me.

"He has always brought me straight back into his squad and I want to repay him and the England fans as well, because they have been fantastic to me.

"I just don't want to let anyone down now. That's my main goal."