Theo Walcott Facing a Crucial Premier League Season with Arsenal

2012/13 was the season in which Theo Walcott finally completed his transformation from a boy to a man. 2013/14 could be the year in which he explodes into a superstar.

Last season, Walcott managed a remarkable 21 goals in just 31 starts. It was his best ever season from a goalscoring point of view, and one in which he announced himself as a crucial match-winner. Each goal had quality but also significance: when Arsenal needed something, Walcott proved willing and able to provide it, time after time.

Next year, Arsenal will need Walcott more than ever. For a long time he was seen as a flaky player who would go missing in the big games. All too often his finest moments were anomalous flashes of talent amid long spells of mediocrity. He infamously once described himself as "consistent in patches." Now that he has proven he can be consistent for a sustained period, Arsenal will hope he can deliver across the entirety of the forthcoming campaign.

Walcott enters this season free of the speculation that dogged him a year ago. At that time, Walcott's contract talks with Arsenal had reached an impasse. He seemed to be headed for the exit, and paid the price by losing his first-team spot to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

However, Walcott's lethal finishing and outstanding attitude helped him regain his place. 

Around the mid-point of last season, Walcott was even handed an opportunity to start in his preferred centre-forward role. However, he struggled to impress against the Premier League's robust defenders. His best performances came on the flank, where he is granted space to make dangerous runs inside the full-back. Few offside traps are quick enough to catch Walcott.

Arsenal's current incumbent of the centre-forward spot, Olivier Giroud, believes Walcott is better suited to the wing. ESPN reports that the Frenchman said:

"

Theo wants to play up front, but his best position on the pitch is definitely winger.

With his pace, for sure he is dangerous as a winger.  We need to keep Theo in the team because he is a really important player, but I can be the striker Arsenal needs, with Theo on the right side of the team.

"

With Gareth Bale possibly set to depart for warmer climes, Walcott could be the Premier League's most dangerous wide player next season.

He will be desperate to impress. This is a World Cup year. Walcott has unfinished business in world football's biggest competition, having failed to make a single appearance despite being named for the 2006 squad as a teenager.

2014 could be Walcott's year. Arsenal stand to be the lucky beneficiaries.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and will be following the club from a London base throughout the 2013-14 season. Follow him on Twitter here.