Walcott buoyed by Capello backing

Theo Walcott is out to help Fabio Capello prove he has learned from his World Cup "mistake" as England prepare for their first game of 2011.

Capello hinted at regret over Walcott's omission from his squad for the summer showpiece, a quote Walcott admits has helped to inspire his impressive start to the season.

The Arsenal winger will line up against Denmark on Wednesday and acknowledged: "It's a nice quote and that's helped me out so much this season, it's shown that the manager's taken responsibility for what he did."

Walcott continued: "I had a good pre-season and started the season brightly, it's always nice when the manager's got faith in you - even though I didn't go to the World Cup.

"I've had ups and downs in my career so far and I felt needed that mental break from it all so it might have done me a favour. It was his decision to make and I respected it. It's helped me out so much this season, having that break and those quotes from the manager as well."

Walcott was buoyed after discussing the decision with Capello and said: "I wanted to know why I didn't go and I had a conversation with him, he's a manager you can approach.

"It's got my mind at ease, I can build on the manager's belief in me and I think I need to start believing in myself - which I have, my performances have been better this season.

"It's going to put a smile on your face if the manager's thinking (it's) a mistake he made, it's great for a player. I want to help him and prove he was wrong, I want to play well for England and hopefully make his job easier. It happened and you can't change it now, I've tried to prove people wrong this season about what I can do."

Walcott has not scored for England since a memorable hat-trick in the 4-1 win over Croatia in Zagreb in September 2008 and said: "I think I need to grab a goal, I haven't got a goal since the Croatia moment.

"It's always nice to get goals but when you get the performances as well, it's great to be in a winning team even if you're not scoring. My shooting boots have been on for Arsenal and hopefully on Wednesday night I can grab a goal or an assist or something and get some more confidence."