Arsenal putting the heat on rivals: Walcott

Arsenal winger Theo Walcott believes his side’s Champions League demolition of Villarreal will have made their rivals sit up and take notice.

Arsene Wenger’s side turned on the style to crush Villarreal 3-0 in Wednesday’s quarter-final second leg at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners face Manchester United next in Europe, but before that they have an FA Cup semi-final clash against Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday.

Walcott is convinced Arsenal’s 18-match unbeaten run in the league, combined with their European results, will have given Chelsea and United cause for concern.

“There is a lot of confidence in the dressing room, everyone is buzzing,” he said. “We feel every team are scared of us as soon as we step on the pitch. It’s great to play when things are going like that.

“We are playing brilliant football and scoring goals from all sorts of positions which helps the team.

“We are defending well and even though we have players out injured, others are coming in and doing just as good a job.

“It will be difficult against United but we play them regularly in the Premier League and do very well against them. They are probably the best team in the world but as long as we dig in, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

After watching Chelsea ship seven goals in their last two games, Walcott and Arsenal’s other attacking players are relishing the opportunity to put Guus Hiddink’s defence under more pressure this weekend.

“We will be looking to utilise their weak spots,” he said. “If we play like we did against Villarreal, then I’m sure we’ll get some goals.”

Emmanuel Adebayor, who was on the scoresheet with Walcott and Robin van Persie against Villarreal, added: “We know how strong Chelsea are, but we just have to put the ball on the ground and play our own football,” said the Togo striker. “If we play our style we can beat every team in the world.”