Beckham helped me discover title-winning mentality: Walcott

LONDON - Arsenal striker Theo Walcott has said how David Beckham helped him discover a title-winning mentality, and showed him the benefit of putting in extra hours on the training pitch after everyone else had gone home.

Walcott started only his second Premier League game since August against Chelsea on Monday but is enjoying the best season of his career in terms of goals scored after bagging his ninth in Arsenal’s 3-1 victory over Chelsea, The Sun reports.

England legend Beckham, 35, trained with Arsenal during the MLS off-season and Walcott said: “I practise my crossing and finishing when I can after training. I remember when David came to train with us, he still practised his free-kicks. It was great for me to see and I learned from it.”

“It’s something I’ve worked on and, hopefully, it can continue because I’ve missed a lot of the season - but I’ve got nine goals and I’m pleased with that. It was nice to get a win against the champions. It was great to be part of that it’s a dream, really,” he said.

“You could sense the atmosphere and all the fans were right up for it, just like the players were. But we can’t dwell on the Chelsea result. We could be disappointed if we beat Chelsea and then lose at Wigan,” he said.

“These games are very important and just as big. We need to go there and show what champions are made of and try to win,” he added. (ANI)