Unselfish Theo Walcott allows Giroud to reach his ton

“He’s on his way back to his best and showed that”, said the boss (via BBC Sport).

“I wasn’t involved as much as I wanted to be but I just had to be patient, still have the same attitude, work hard in training and wait for my chance again”.

With Lyon drawing against Atalanta in the other pool tie, the Toffees are bottom of Group E after two games and manager Ronald Koeman couldn’t hide his frustration with his players.

An error from BATE goalkeeper Denis Shcherbitski handed Walcott his second, capitalising on a woeful clearance before drilling into the bottom left corner from 12 yards.

Jack Wilshere’s lovely cross teed Walcott up to head Arsenal’s opener.

Theo Walcott scored the opening two goals in the ninth and 22nd minute.

For the first 45 minutes, he was simply wonderful, the living embodiment of an Arsenal style in danger of extinction, oozing pace, accuracy and effortless dynamism.

Just three minutes later, Holding scored his first goal for Arsenal following a corner kick. This game should never have been allowed to become hard, but when difficulty inevitably came it was Wilshere who kept his head when others – both old and young – were losing theirs. If he continues to progress, he could be a long-term solution in Arsenal’s central midfield. However, his shot clattered into Scherbitski’s right post.

With the score locked at 3-1, Arsenal made an instant impact after the second half.

Arsenal continued to dominate after the break and made it four after incredibly soft penalty award.

Olivier Giroud – who joined the club from Montpellier in 2012 – notched his 100th goal for the club from the penalty spot.

Nemanja Milunović then followed Dragun into the book for a pull-back on Walcott in the 64th minute.

As if going down 3-0 was the wakeup call they were waiting for, BATE responded three minutes later.

However, BATE were unable to capitalise on their new-found momentum and their frustration began to show.

What’s also clear, and it has been clear for some time after seven successive exits at the round of 16 stage, is that it’s a competition Arsenal have no chance of winning at this moment in time. “It’s a point but it should be three”.