Theo Walcott Finally Plays for Arsenal After 9 Months of Absence.

Theo Walcott made his Arsenal return on Friday as he played for 45 minutes in the U21's tie against Blackburn Rovers.

The English international has not played for the Gunners for a period of nine months after what looked like a career-threatening injury. He damaged his left knee's cruciate ligament in an FA Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur last season and this made him miss out of the England squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament which held in Brazil from June 12 to July 13, 2014.

The Englishman admitted it was not a nice experience getting back to fitness because there were a lot of hardships on his way to recovery. All the same, he is happy to be back to action after a long wait on the sidelines.

"It has been a hard, long nine months," Walcott told Sky Sports News after featuring for the first half of Friday's 0-0 draw.

"I always need to go out there and play to the best of my ability. I don't think about picking up little knocks - I think about the game. That's what I did tonight, and I got through fine."

Having just started training last week, it is understandable that a first team return in the next few games would not be ideal and that is why he was given the chance to gain fitness from the Arsenal Youth side. The 25-year old said he is not in a rush and ready to take it slow to avoid further complications.

"It was a massive blow when it happened, but I am focused on the present now and I will take it day by day," he said.

"I need to be patient with myself. It is important to recover. I need to be patient. The manager will choose to play me when he wants - it (the injury) needs to be managed as well.

Arsenal fans will be happy to see their Ferrari start playing for them again. He has been greatly missed and hopefully, he will help solve their goalscoring problems.