As Theo Walcott prepares to face Arsenal, three ex-Gunners who returned to haunt Wenger

It feels like he has spent his entire life at Arsenal but Theo Walcott is now an Everton player, and has got off to a flying start at Goodison Park.

The up-and-coming 28-year-old set up a goal on his debut and scored two in his next game; a 3-1 win over Leicester on Deadline Day after making a £20m switch in mid-January.

And now, after spending 12 years at The Gunners, he is preparing to face his former side just two-and-a-half after leaving as Arsenal travel to Goodison for the late kick-off on Saturday.

He joined the Gunners as a fresh-faced 16-year-old for a hefty £12m in 2006 and was touted as the next big England and Arsenal talent but neither really materialised and after failing to hold down a first-team spot at the Emirates for what feels like forever, he finally decided to jump ship.

READ MORE: Gossip – Brady ‘ruined West Ham’s Slimani move’, Man Utd ‘target Pochettino’ and more

READ MORE: Ozil’s contract lifts some gloom at Arsenal

READ MORE: Arsenal complete £60m Aubameyang signing

“For whatever reason it didn’t happen this year. That’s why I’ve moved on,” he said. “I’ve known Arsene Wenger since I was 16. To bring a young player in and to have belief in him, I can’t thank him enough for that.”

“When you’re used to something for so long it’s a big decision to change things, but I felt it was right for me to do that.”

And as he gears up to face the side he has spent almost his entire career at, Walcott will be hoping to have a game as good as these former Arsenal stars who Wenger also reluctantly let go came back to haunt the Gunners.

Robin van Persie

Much like the other players on this list, Robin van Persie instantly became public enemy no.1 to Arsenal fans when he moved to Manchester United during the summer of 2012, after seemingly getting fed up with not winning any trophies.

And it seemed to be a vindicated decision as he won the Premier League in his first season at Old Trafford. To make matters worse for Gunners fans he took just three minutes to score against them in his first game versus his former side as a United player in November 2012, capitalising on a Thomas Vermaelen error to slot into the bottom corner.

He did one of those ‘non-celebrations against my former club’ but it did nothing to quell Gooners’ hate towards him.

He then scored a penalty at the Emirates in the reverse fixture that season and again didn’t celebrate but by the time he scored the winner against Arsenal the following season he thought ‘balls to that’ and celebrated wildly. Piers Morgan was livid.

Emmanuel Adebayor

The controversial Togo striker was another who celebrated wildly after scoring against Arsenal although he managed to take it to the next level by running the full length of the pitch to rub it in the fans’ faces.

He took 80 minutes to punish the Gunners, flicking in a header for Manchester City in September 2009 during a 4-2 win.

Like Van Persie (who also scored in this game) it was his first appearance against the Gunners but there was no threat of him doing a muted celebration as he pegged it 100 yards to slide on his knees in front of a fairly angry away end. It’s one of the most famous Premier League celebrations and probably the fastest he ever ran for anyone.

And just like RVP he went on to score more goals against Arsenal for Tottenham but both came in 5-2 defeats so that would have made Piers Morgan feel a bit better.

Cesc Fabregas

Only Arsene Wenger knows how Cesc Fabregas joined Chelsea and not Arsenal when he returned to the Premier League from Barcelona in 2014. The Gunners had a buy-back option but somehow the Spaniard ended up in West London instead of Islington.

And in his first game back against Arsenal he ran the show.

He didn’t score but he was instrumental in The Blues’ 2-0 win, running the midfield and sliding in a superb pass to Diego Costa for their second goal.

He did finally go on to score against the Gunners at the seventh time of asking in February last year, lobbing Petr Cech in a 3-1 win for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.