Theo Walcott

Arsenal forward admits that the Gunners have not been good enough

Arsenal forward Theo Walcott has admitted this season has been a frustrating one for the Gunners.

Arsene Wenger's side find themselves sixth in the table, three points off fourth placed Chelsea who occupy the final Champions League spot.

Saturday's 7-1 thumping of Blackburn Rovers at the Emirates was their first league success in five and the England international believes their recent failures have been down to the player and not the manager.

"It's just been one of those frustrating seasons. Hopefully a lot of those frustrations came out against Blackburn where everybody stood up for themselves," he said.

"The boss always takes a lot of stick from everyone criticising him but us players need to look up to him because hes been taking it all.

"We are the ones who go out there and put out the performances and sometimes they havent been good enough."

That could not be said of Saturday's performance in a match where Walcott himself impressed, taking his assist tally for the season to 10.

"One of my main jobs as a winger is to get assists," said Walcott. "The goals are a secondary thing.

"Some of them against Blackburn were just tap-ins so it was like a goal really. I hope it made Robin's job easy."

• Chelsea and Arsenal target discusses his future
• Arsenal boss Wenger speaks glowingly about transfer target
• Arsenal star: Oxlade-Chamberlain can succeed for club and country