"Amazing." That's how it felt for Theo Walcott to make his first Arsenal start for a year.
The England international played 76 minutes of the Gunners' 2-0 victory over Hull City in the FA Cup third round, a year to the day since his last start in the same competition.
Walcott missed chances against Hull - chances he would normally take - but the 25-year-old is confident his finishing will improve with time.
"I had a lot of chances and it will come, I'm not putting too much pressure on myself"
"I had a lot of chances and it will come, I'm not putting too much pressure on myself," said Walcott. "As long as I'm getting those chances, I'm pleased.
"It's amazing [to be back]. Obviously it's been a whole year now - to the day - and it's nice to get my first start. It's nice to blow the cobwebs away.
"Mentally is the main [challenge when you're injured], seeing how you can cope when your team-mates are going out to train and you're the only one in the treatment room. Or when you do your rehab the whole summer and everyone's at the World Cup. It's difficult like that.
"I had a lot of personal things in my life that went on, so it just took my mind off things and gave me an opportunity to build on something and work on something, and I'm better for it."
Alexis scored the goal that settled Sunday's tie in Arsenal's favour and Walcott is looking forward to teaming up with the Chile star.
"He's a special player so it's nice to get on the pitch with him, finally," he said. "I'm sure there's going to be a lot of appearances for him and me together.
"We were fairly comfortable," added Walcott. "I think Hull came here with a gameplan, they passed the ball very well but in the end it was a good, comfortable 2-0 win."
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