Betting latest: West Ham favourites to sign Arsenal speed machine

Wed 11 October 2017 7:43, UK

By Richard Parks

West Ham have been named by bookmakers as the joint favourites to sign Arsenal forward Theo Walcott in the January window.

Bet Victor have priced the London club at 5/1 to sign the 28-year-old speed machine by 3 February.

Walcott’s former club Southampton and Everton are also 5/1 to push through a deal for him in January, followed by Watford (10/1), Leicester, Newcastle United and Crystal Palace (all 12/1).

Walcott has slipped down the pecking order at Arsenal over the last six months to throw his future at the club into serious doubt.

He has a contract that runs until the summer of 2019, but has been given just 46 Premier League minutes this season.

Walcott has started just one league match since captaining Arsenal to a shambolic defeat against Crystal Palace in April.

Football Insider verdict

Arsene Wenger clearly has misgivings over Walcott, as the dream that he could become the next Thierry Henry has long since died. Arsenal have better and multi-dimensional forwards, which has led to the 47-times England international having to settle for life on the bench. But he would still represent a fine signing for West Ham, given his pedigree, scoring record and extreme pace. Operating predominantly on the right flank, Walcott has scored 107 Arsenal goals and also supplied 74 assists from 390 matches. Those are stats not to be sniffed at.