The English international, Theo Walcott has been recuperating from a surgery which was required to treat the abdominal injury he suffered back in September. To make things worse for Arsenal, Walcott’s fellow forwards Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski have also been watching from the sidelines due to their respective injuries.

Thus, Arsenal have been without a recognized first-team wide attacker and have been forced to play their central midfielders like Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Mesut Ozil out on the wings. Though that has worked well for them as they sit pretty at the top of the table with a 5 point cushion, they are walking on thin ice as one injury to any of these midfielders will push the squad’s depth to the limit.

Therefore, according to ESPNFC, the return of Walcott will give them a timely boost in a crucial encounter at Old Trafford against old foes Manchester United. The game on Sunday marks an end to a testing run of fixtures for the Gunners, in which they have already faced Chelsea in the Capital One Cup, followed by a top-of-the-table league encounter against Liverpool. They travel to Germany to play Borussia Dortmund tonight, and then head straight to Old Trafford.

To maintain their ascendancy in the league this season, Arsenal will find it a luxury to have the pace of Walcott bombing down the right hand side of attack against United, something which has been missing in recent matches; and we can fully expect him to play a small part in the second half on Sunday as Wenger looks to ease him back into action.

Not only with the return of the 24-year old reduce the burden on the shoulders of Cazorla, Wilshere and Ozil, but it will also pose a headache for Wenger in future games. Once Walcott is fully fit, Wenger will have to make the tough decision of dropping one of their current midfielders, who are all currently playing to their full potential.

Who do you think will be sacrificed in the coming fixtures?