The 21-year-old England international turned in a fine individual display on Wednesday night as he helped himself to a double in the Gunners' 4-0 Carling Cup victory at Newcastle, which booked their place in the quarter-finals. It was his first start since his return from an injury suffered on England duty and the Frenchman looked on with fingers crossed as he rode a series of committed challenges with no ill-effects. Wenger said: "At his pace, when you get stopped, you are always vulnerable. "Tonight, he got one or two tackles and he got away with it because he did not have his full weight on his standing leg. "But against Switzerland, for example, what can you do? He is not vulnerable because of his injuries, it was a tackle. "When you play against a player who is so quick, sometimes you can mistime tackles. "It's not necessarily always that you want to hit him, but he is so quick that you think, 'Now I can get the ball', and it has gone away." Walcott was simply too quick for Chris Hughton's much-altered side - both managers made nine changes - although Arsenal were the beneficiaries of two slices of good fortune as they established a 2-0 lead with 53 minutes gone. The had gone ahead in first-half injury time when Ryan Taylor attempted to clear Nicklas Bendtner's header off his own line, but saw the ball come back off keeper Tim Krul and drop into the net. But there was more than a hint of controversy about the Gunners' second when Bendtner appeared to come from an offside position and block Mike Williamson as he attempted to head off Walcott, who finished with some style. Bendtner's 83rd-minute strike and Walcott's second two minutes from time wrapped up a deserved win. Wenger believes Theo Walcott is ready to "go to another level". "Walcott is more composed in front of goal this season. His first touch is better. He is an intelligent boy and because of that he will always improve," Wenger told Sky Sports 2. "He was flying at the start of the season and now he is just coming back from injury. "You can see today that he is ready to go to another level." Wenger added: "You are always happy when your strikers score. "They got through the game without injury and now physically they have a couple of days to recover. "I'm glad they both got through the 90 minutes." Arsenal's night was soured by a knee injury to full-back Kieran Gibbs, who went off before the break with a knee complaint. Asked if it was serious, Wenger said: "We hope not. It's a knee, we hope it's not a twist of medial ligament. "I'm cautious. The way he walks now doesn't look too good." Walcott believes Arsenal will end their five-year wait for a trophy if they can continue to produce the same type of performance that saw off a Newcastle side that beat Chelsea in the previous round. "People may say that this is a Mickey Mouse cup, but we want to win trophies," he said. "We want to look back on the trophies we have won in our career. "At the moment it's none, but if we keep playing like that I'm sure it will come." He added: "I've come back from some long injuries before and it's nice to get some game time again. "It's nice to be back playing with lads."
