Theo Walcott: Arsenal’s ‘never give up’ spirit will scare Champions League rivals

Theo Walcott today claimed Europe will be running scared of Arsenal after they thrashed Olympiakos to reach the last 16 of the Champions League.

The Gunners went into last night’s match knowing they had to win by any scoreline aside from 1-0 and 2-1 and duly did so as Olivier Giroud netted a hat-trick to extend manager Arsene Wenger’s record to 16 consecutive appearances in the latter stages.

Arsenal also became only the eighth side in Champions League history to qualify with just three points or fewer from their opening four matches. They head into Monday’s draw in Nyon with five possible opponents: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Wolfsburg or Zenit St Petersburg.

And Walcott insists they can beat any team put before them after a performance that serves as a warning to their rivals.

“The sort of attitude we had in the dressing room was ‘never give up’,” he said. “You should have seen them buzzing right at the end in the dressing room.

“That is the spirit we want in this team. It is the spirit that we can push on and improve. Europe will have seen that performance and I think a lot of teams will want to avoid us now. We have got the character, the strength in depth to make upsets. Whoever we get, we will be confident, raring to go and I’m sure we will get players fit as well. The squad is very good.”

Wenger insisted he had not looked at the last 16 options but he will undoubtedly want to avoid Real and Barcelona, who together with Bayern Munich are clear favourites to lift the trophy in Milan next May.

However, Walcott admits if Arsenal are paired with an easier task on paper, they must not underestimate their opponents as they did when facing Monaco at the same stage last season; the Gunners lost the first leg 3-1 before winning 2-0 in the principality and going out on away goals.

“Whoever you get in the draw is going to be difficult,” he said. “You’ve seen teams struggle when they should be going through and winning. It is just the way it is now.

“It doesn’t matter who we play. I think if we contribute in the right way, we can beat anyone on our day. Whoever we get, we need to respect them.”