Following cruciate ligament surgery for an injury he incurred during Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Tottenham in the FA Cup in January the 24-year-old Gunner is having to learn to walk again.
The upcoming birth of his first child and Arsenal’s push for the Premiership title is keeping him upbeat and positive despite the fact that he will miss out on representing England in this summer’s World Cup finals in Brazil.
After now having a brace removed from his left knee the Arsenal forward has been spending the past week learning to walk and drive a car.
Talking about the Premiership along with his injury and being an expectant dad Walcott said in the Irish Mirror .
“I’d just about get a medal wouldn’t I?” said Walcott, as his 13 appearances means he would. “The Premier League this year is crazy. It’s the best League in the world and you can’t really call it.
“It’s all positive because we are sitting just a point behind Chelsea. It’s a shame that I can’t actually contribute to anything.
“After it first happened and I wasn’t at the training ground, a lot of the guys were texting saying ‘come on where are you we want to see you.’ That gives me a boost.
“We’ve got a massive game against Stoke and it’s a busy period with a few away matches with Bayern in between but we’ve been through worse.”
It is now seven weeks since he had surgery to his knee, and the target remains to back and ready for pre-season training.
While most players would be heartbroken over the ordeal Walcott still has a huge smile on his face even joking about when he put two fingers up to the Spurs fans while he was being stretchered off the pitch, and when asked if he was bothered after having coins thrown at him the Arsenal player said: “All the stewards and the doctors were getting stuff peppered at them even before. Me and Tottenham, you always do that banter. They do it to me, I do it to them. It’s just a bit of fun really.
“I have seen some Tottenham fans since then and they have said if it was one of our players [making the score line gesture] I would have loved it. It’s all a bit of fun, that’s all it was.
“The stretcher guys were both Spurs fans and they actually said: ‘Theo can you stop now?’ I did stop eventually. I’ll buy them some cupcakes or something! As soon as I got to the Arsenal fans and they were throwing scarves. I stopped, yeah.”
After he went to the World Cup in 2006 and did not play and then in 2010 when he was not selected by Fabio Capello this was supposed to be the World Cup where he would shine, and despite being disappointed he will now be around when his wife Mel gives birth to their first child.
“I’m really not thinking about the next World Cup at all,” said Walcott. “I’ll be 28, 29 by then and hopefully stronger than ever.
“But my main concern is getting fit and playing well for Arsenal. I’ll obviously be supporting the guys in the summer but my main concern will be my family, of course.
“This week was quite big getting out of the crutches and the brace. There’s the baby due in May. In the space of a year, I have had three very big things happen – marriage, baby on the way and a major injury.
“The baby is the one thing that keeps me going. It’s a great experience. It will be amazing for me, my family and Mel and her family. In some way it’s a silver lining I suppose. Maybe it was destined to happen.”
