3 Arsenal Players Who Are Fighting for Their Futures in Rest of Season

With Leicester seemingly unstoppable now, Arsenal may have to accept they’re no longer major figures in the title fight.

However, there are some Arsenal players with plenty to fight for between now and the end of the campaign: For Theo Walcott, Joel Campbell and Kieran Gibbs, this is a crucial period that could determine whether they remain with the club into next season.

Some players have surely already given up hope of staying on. Mathieu Flamini, Tomas Rosicky and Mikel Arteta are all out of contract this summer, and given their limited contribution it’s almost impossible to conceive of any renewals being handed out.

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Gibbs is almost edging into that camp marked "certain departure." Although he is still under contract, his future is very much up in the air.

Back in January, Jack Wilson of the Daily Star suggested Gibbs was considering his future, and that doesn’t come as any real surprise. The left-back has lost his place to Nacho Monreal and is finding first-team football increasingly hard to come by.

Gibbs will turn 27 next season—he can’t afford too much more waiting around. He must hope he can use these last few weeks of the season to reclaim his place, or he could well be out the door.

The same could be true for Walcott. Although he signed a new contract only last summer, this has been a poor season for the England international. Since his dire performance in a 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford back in February, Walcott has started just one game for the Gunners.

He’s clearly fallen out of favour with Arsene Wenger, with the likes of Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi being afforded chances at his expense.

Given the manner in which he has tumbled down the pecking order, it must be tempting to sell him. As an England international and homegrown player, Walcott retains a high transfer value. Wenger may hypothesise that he has passed his peak and is only likely to decrease in effectiveness.

As Walcott ages, he will lose his main weapon: blistering pace. As things stand, Walcott’s place in the international squad for EURO 2016 is under some threat from the likes of Welbeck and Jamie Vardy. If he misses out there, it could be the blow that pushes him to leave Arsenal after a decade in north London.

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Then there’s Campbell. It’s curious that his future should be in dispute, given his surprisingly significant contribution to Arsenal’s season. In many ways, the Costa Rican has overachieved. Whenever he’s been called upon he’s impressed, and during a difficult winter he was arguably one of Arsenal’s most consistent players.

However, he still struggles to hold down a regular place. The fact he is currently sitting on the bench while Wenger entrusts the 19-year-old Iwobi with a regular place must be a source of considerable frustration.

The feeling persists that for all Campbell’s good performances, Wenger doesn’t quite have faith in his ability to form part of his team in the long term.

All three of these players will be thinking in the short term now. They have until mid-May to regain Wenger’s faith. If they can’t reclaim a place in the side, they may be forced to find a new club come the summer.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2015/16. Follow him on Twitter here.