Bold, brave or stupid? Probably a combination of all three. It was so, so risky of Arsene Wenger to approach Saturday’s game with an unnecessarily experimental attitude, as was seemingly the case, given the golden opportunity to capitalise on the outcome of the match between Man United and Chelsea. Sagna taking corners? Vermaelen taking throw-ins? Eboue on the left?! After speaking in the week of the luxury of having 20 top-class players, it felt at times as though Arsene used the game as practice to determine the true versatility of this Arsenal squad ahead of the Barcelona match.

But this game was all about Theo Walcott – specifically, could he impress enough to cement a starting place at the Nou Camp on Tuesday? It was all set up for him to shine. With no genuine left winger to alter our approach, Walcott was always involved with every first-half siege on Marcus Hahneman’s goal. His name was spoken more than any other on Radio 5Live as the vast majority of attacks came down the right side. He continually varied the angle and length of his runs and the height and speed of his crosses, and generally succeeded in what is asked of him.

Walcott has been unfairly chastised throughout this season. Due to his spate of injury setbacks, yesterday was just his eighth Premier League start of the campaign. He excelled against Burnley but was anonymous at Birmingham, so consistency is a concern. He has though long moved on from a youthful approach of feeling his job is simply to run, regardless of the quality of his cross. Now he acknowledges his responsibilities. He grew increasingly frustrated against Wolves that his contribution wasn’t paying dividends, but crucially kept at it until the end. It was from Walcott’s run and knock-back that Sagna delivered the telling cross for Bendtner to secure the oh-so vital victory.

Barcelona, meanwhile, found themselves in a familiar situation on Saturday night (and here, I don’t mean trouncing visiting opposition). At the Nou Camp, their defence holds such a remarkably high line that remarkably often this season opposing teams have been able to play a splitting pass to put a runner through, one on one, with Puyol and Pique or whoever is playing at the back giving desperate chase 15 yards behind. Malaga did it a few weeks back and scored. Athletic Bilbao did it on Saturday and scored, and it’s happened on numerous occasions before as well. So look out for the number of times Arsenal get the chance to do something similar on Tuesday. If this opportunity does materialise, there is no one in the team better suited to take full advantage than Theo Walcott.

And it should materialise. Despite their two away goals in hand and the magnitude of the prize at stake, Barcelona are hardly a team to err on the side of caution, particularly at home. Expect Dani Alves and Eric Abidal to play their part masquerading as secondary wingers.

With this in mind, Theo’s inclusion from the off could be vital to our success. The uneasiness of Abidal and Pique was almost palpable when he showcased his pace immediately upon being introduced in the first leg. Arsene is keeping his cards close to his chest with regards to his selection plans though, indicating after the Wolves game the benefits of having a potentially game-changing impact substitute available. If we are serious about winning tomorrow evening, Nasri and Bendtner have certainly made themselves un-droppable with their recent form.

But it might well be Walcott who holds the key to semi-final qualification – and with it the chance him to finally put to bed any doubts about his abilities in the process.