Theo Walcott has a brilliant reason why he can’t get a start for Arsenal

Sure Theo, we believe you

We're going to give Theo Walcott the benefit of the doubt here that all that time sitting on the bench or those very comfy chairs has made him go a little doolally. It's either that or it's the smog of London that has clouded his brain. We're not sure what it is but it's certainly something as the England man has boldly stated in an interview on the Arsenal club website that the Gunners are the best team in Europe this year. Just sit down and let than sink in for a second before continuing. Ready, good. We'll continue. The former Southampton man has revealed that the reason he think he can't get a game for the Londoners at the moment is because they are littered with stars that have set European club football alight since the start of 2015

'In this calendar year, we’ve been the best team in Europe. It’s the strongest the squad has been and everyone is staying fit as well. There aren’t many injuries in the squad, which is important. If we had an injury-free season, I think we could lift the title.' 'There’s a lot of competition for places so everyone seems to lift a gear and play extremely well. It makes it a bit more difficult for people to get into the team. I think, especially this season, not many people thought we’d be second and challenging for the Premier League.'

This would be the same Arsenal side that got hammered by Monaco at home in the Champions League, barely got past Brighton in the FA Cup, and drew with Chelsea last week after having one shot on target in the whole game. Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid are shaking in their golden boots we're sure. The interview was with a number of Chinese journalist so some of the later questions are more than a little bit strange. For instance Walcott explains the decision decision to swap jersey numbers when he signed for the club, and what digits he would really love to have on the back of his substitutes jersey.

'At the time I wanted No 8. I was 32, as I was at Southampton, and wanted eight, but we signed Samir Nasri. My second choice was No 7, but I couldn’t have that because of Tomas Rosicky, so I had 14. I just wanted to get a low number. I didn’t realise at the time that 14 was Thierry and when I did take it, I realised that it was his. I had the opportunity to see him in the flesh and work with him every day. I’m proud to wear the number.'

H/T to Arsenal