Walcott predicts 'something special' at Arsenal this season

Ahead of Sunday's meeting with Chelsea in the Community Shield, the 26-year-old is eager to showcase the squad's growth heading into the Premier League campaign Theo Walcottis predicting "something special" to happen at Arsenalthis season as the club look to challenge for a first Premier League title in 12 years. The 26-year-old, who signed a new four-year contract on Friday, has just two FA Cup winners medals to his name during nine years at the club but heads into Sunday's Community Shield in confident mood. Arsenal comfortably beat then-champions Manchester City 3-0 in last season's Wembley curtain-raiser only to suffer a worst start to a season in 32 years, but Walcott is excited by the ongoing growth in the squad. "It's going to be very tight and I think both squads have improved," he toldArsenal Player. "Chelsea will grow as well but I think the way that we ended the season, just the whole culture around the club now and everything about it, there's just something special that will happen this year. "Some people will think it’s just another pre-season game but us players want to go out and win every game we can." Walcott, who has 40 caps for England, does not take the opportunity to play at Wembley lightly and sees Sunday's stage as the ideal chance to showcase Arsenal's ability heading into the new campaign. He added: "A lot of kids dream of playing at Wembley so you’ve always got to take it in, put 100 per cent in and I will, like all my team-mates will do too. "We won't want to let our fans down because they’re going to make the game special for us, I’m sure. “It’s important to actually put out a message to the Premier League that we’re ready this year, against the title champions. We did it last year against Manchester City so there’s no reason we can’t do it again."