THEO WALCOTT is relishing the prospect of face-to-face combat with former room-mate Gareth Bale at Wembley tomorrow.
Yet even if Walcott gets the better of his Welsh pal, delivers a stunning performance and helps England stick one foot in the Euro 2012 finals, a major "battering" could be around the corner.
The Arsenal star believes Friday's 3-0 win over Bulgaria was one of his best displays in an England shirt — just five days after he suffered his most humiliating moment on a pitch. Arsenal were embarrassed 8-2 at Manchester United last Sunday.
Boss Arsene Wenger did not speak to his shell-shocked troops afterwards and due to the international break, he has yet to go through their shambolic performance with them.
Walcott, 22, said: "Missing the World Cup was a massive disappointment for me but Old Trafford was one of the worst games I have ever been involved in. We shouldn't be losing games by that much. "I am concentrating on Tuesday and then I will be reflecting on Arsenal and probably get a battering from Mr Wenger.
"It was completely dead in the dressing room afterwards. It is hard to recover from that result and it could hurt a lot of players. "We have got a couple of players who will lift the spirits, though.
"You have to help the younger players. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made his debut in that game and Carl Jenkinson got sent off, so we will be picking them up. But you are at Arsenal which is a big club and you have to be able to react to those sort of moments.
"We lost 5-1 at Tottenham in the Carling Cup and I just forgot about it. There's no point sitting and sulking about what you could have done better — the better team won on the day. "A lot of people dropped their heads as soon as that fifth goal, sixth, seventh and eighth went in.
"I wouldn't say we gave up. We tried our best but Manchester United were very strong. "They scored some great goals. I ended up playing right-back and gave away a penalty."Maybe the organisation wasn't quite there either. We're just going to have to catch up now in our results.
"I am not worried about the future at Arsenal.
"We got rid of two great players in Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas but we've brought Mikel Arteta and Yossi Benayoun in to the midfield.
"I'm looking forward to seeing them on Wednesday. When you get new faces in, it tends to get everyone bubbling. "I think we all have to lift our spirits, we can't dwell on that United result. Hopefully, those new signings will do the job."
Walcott is still enjoying his football despite Arsenal's nightmare start to the new season and was pleased with his contribution as part of Fabio Capello's attacking midfield system in Sofia on Friday night. He said: "I will be judged on my goals and assists. Hopefully, I will get a chance to play up front as well and I just need to get that goal for England now.
"My goalscoring form has definitely improved. If I am not involved on the wing I tend to come in and try and be like a second striker. "There is that interchange throughout the whole team now. "That's where I want to be in the future, up front. Hopefully, if I continue to score goals that is where I can be.
"The balance in the England team is right between experienced and youth. "Everyone is playing well so no position is guaranteed. If you are playing well the manager will pick you. "There is a lot of United talent coming through and I think Chris Smalling, who made his debut the other night, was terrific.
"For him to be that vocal behind me was great. Sometimes wingers sleep — sometimes I sleep — but he just sort of woke me up, which was great to see. It makes my job and his job easier."
As for playing against Spurs star Bale, his old team-mate from Southampton, Walcott added: "I look forward to that and it will be a nice little battle — but I've got to be picked first. No one's position is guaranteed.
"Gareth can hopefully start showing his form of last year because we want to see the best players in the Premier League. "He's good on the pitch but he's poor on his phone as he doesn't answer it. But he's a good lad, the limelight hasn't changed him at all.
"Wales have got a lot of good players. They've lost Craig Bellamy, so I'm sure Gareth can be their main threat. But, hopefully, we can score early and settle the nerves."
Walcott will also be able to give the Three Lions plenty of inside information about Wales skipper Aaron Ramsey, his Gunners team-mate. The England winger said: "It was nice for him to score a goal for Wales on Friday and it did us a favour too as they beat Montenegro.
"He came back from a horrific injury and for a while didn't quite look the player he was before. "Now he's starting to get back to what he was and it's great for Arsenal and Wales. But I hope he won't have a good game tomorrow."
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