Theo Walcott Reveals Arsenal Squad Held Crunch Meeting Without Arsene Wenger

Theo Walcott has revealed the Arsenal squad held a private meeting without Arsene Wenger and his coaching staff as they sought to address the Gunners' slip-ups in the Premier League title race.

According to James Olley of the Evening Standard, Walcott said:

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We are not going to lie—we know as a unit it has been tough and we all had a good chat amongst us behind closed doors, without even any of coaches or the manager knowing about anything. It is important that as a team [to know] we have got it in us. 

We just have to produce it more often. You had a sense of the Tottenham [Hotspur] game especially, when you go down to 10 men in a big game like that, the belief and the character was there. The never-give-up spirit was there as well. In the derby matches, they could be the matches that turn your season and we may have turned the corner.

We have quite a lot of experienced players in the dressing room. It came from [Petr] Cech, Mikel [Arteta], Per [Mertesacker] and Tomas [Rosicky]. We have four good old heads there. I’d like to keep what was said among ourselves but it was very important. We have had a reaction from it.

[The manager] probably knows about it anyway. The manager respects the players’ privacy and what is  happening personally among us all. It was a meeting to express how everyone was feeling basically and it worked.

"

Arsenal's players have received plenty of criticism in recent weeks for their mental fragility. Their UEFA Champions League hopes dangle by a thread following a 2-0 home defeat to Barcelona, while back-to-back defeats to Manchester United and Swansea City followed by a draw in the north London derby have left them eight points off the top of the Premier League table.

Walcott scored twice on Tuesday as Arsenal earned a much-needed reprieve from their recent struggles in a 4-0 win over Hull City in the FA Cup. Olivier Giroud also ended his goal drought with a brace in the comfortable victory, per BT Sport Football:

However, for their season to truly be a success, the Gunners need to win the Premier League title.

Usual contenders United, Manchester City and Chelsea have all endured struggles this year, so it's arguably been the perfect season for Arsenal to capitalise and claim their first league title in 12 years.

As the two teams most likely to beat the Gunners to the title are Leicester City, who narrowly avoided relegation last year, and bitter rivals Tottenham, it's all the more important for Arsenal to triumph.

Per Sky Sports News HQ, Wenger has vowed the club will continue to fight until the end of the season:

The win over the Tigers will have provided a vital confidence boost after the demoralising defeats, but what they need to do is prove their mettle in the much sterner tests coming up—something that will be even more important as they will face them without a raft of key players, as Bleacher Report UK revealed:

Though they aren't likely to overturn their deficit away in Barcelona, avoiding humiliation with a respectable performance is needed and a return to winning ways in the Premier League must happen immediately.

The Gunners have a number of potentially straightforward games in their run-in—at home to the likes of Norwich City and Aston Villa—but as the Swansea result showed, they're by no means guaranteed a result.

Arsenal also face West Ham United and Manchester City away in their two toughest remaining games, and they will play a big part in determining whether they can be champions. The players taking responsibility for their own form is an encouraging start, but there's a long way to go yet.