Theo deals treble hint

THEO WALCOTT opened another summer of pay negotiations with three perfect reasons as to why his contract should once again be renewed.

Such have been the problems the England forward has had with injuries the last two seasons that he chose to celebrate his second goal not with Arsene Wenger or the rest of the Arsenal dugout, but specifi cally with outgoing fi tness trainer Declan Lynch.

His lack of games had led many to feel that, with the arrival of Alexis Sanchez, Santi Cazorla

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and Danny Welbeck in a similar position, perhaps this was time to end a decade of what might have beens.

But after just four minutes, Walcott drilled the ball into the top corner . Then he followed it up by stabbing the ball inside the near post and tapping in from barely a foot before half- time.

Jack Wilshere, almost as unplayable as Walcott, had already added a stunning effort of his own from the edge of the box after 17 minutes. All of which will give Wenger plenty to think about in terms of team selection for Saturday’s FA Cup fi nal – and beyond.

“I cannot tell you what I will do next weekend,” said Wenger. “But you could see some players are in good shape.

“Theo was already sharp when he came on in midweek against Sunderland and was the one who created the chances. I always said he could play down the middle.

“He is a good goalscorer but he’s been out for a year and that is a long, long time in football to get back your sharpness and fi tness. Jack is a bit the same. But with or without a hat- trick we want Theo to stay. We have been talking to his agent.”

Gareth McAuley scored for West Brom after the break, but boss Tony Pulis knew after Aaron Ramsey twice hit the woodwork it could have been even worse.

“If anybody needs criticism it is me,” he said. “After beating Chelsea maybe I should have freshened things up a bit. It took more out of them than I realised.”