ARSENAL VS EVERTON ASIA TROPHY FINAL WHISTLE

EVERTON'S hopes of adding silverware to their pre-season campaign were ruined by Arsenal tonight.

Goals in either half gave the Gunners a 3-1 win at the National Stadium in Singapore to inflict a first defeat of the summer on Roberto Martinez's men.

Theo Walcott put Arsenal ahead mid-way through the first-half before Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil added goals after the break to thrill the huge number of Arsenal fans in the ground.

Ross Barkley fired home a consolation goal with 15 minutes remaining.

Everton had enjoyed plenty of possession in the first-half but could not find any cutting edge and Walcott made them pay when he raced onto a ball over the top and capitalised on hesitant goalkeeping from Joel Robles.

The Blues thought they had forced an equaliser just before half-time but Gareth Barry's goal was ruled out after the referee's assistant spotted an infringement following Steven Naismith's header that was brilliantly tipped onto the bar by Petr Cech.

Luke Garbutt forced Arsenal's new stopper into an even better save just after the re-start but quick-fire goals from Cazorla and Ozil soon ended hopes of a fightback.

Romelu Lukaku and Barkley were brought on just after the hour mark, with Roberto Martinez making six changes during the second 45.

And Barkley would smash home a consolation strike 15 minutes from time after excellent pressing from the Blues saw them win the ball back in Arsenal territory.

John Stones, the subject of a £20m bid from Chelsea yesterday, played 84 minutes of tonight's game before being replaced by Tyias Browning.

Everton (4-2-3-1): Robles, Coleman, Stones (Browning 84), Jagielka (c) (Hibbert 84), Garbutt, Barry, McCarthy (Osman 61), Deulofeu (Mirallas 46), Naismith (Barkley 46), Cleverley, Kone (Lukaku 61). Subs: Pienaar, Howard, Galloway, McAleny, Kenny, Williams, Robinson.

Walcott surprises FA Cup final mascot

Nine-year-old Junior Gunner Lucas enjoyed the surprise of a lifetime ahead of Arsenal's game with West Brom on Sunday, when Theo Walcott paid him a visit with some special news.

Walcott sought out the Finsbury Park youngster in his seat at Emirates Stadium before kick-off, to tell him he had been randomly selected from over 30,000 Junior Gunners to be Arsenal's mascot for the FA Cup Final.

The Arsenal and England star explained to Lucas that he would get to visit the Gunners' changing room before the game, and lead them onto the pitch for kick-off.

He then invited Lucas pitchside to present him with an Arsenal strip and FA Cup Final tickets in front of the Emirates Stadium crowd.

Walcott said afterwards: "It was brilliant to be the one to tell Lucas he'd be our mascot for the FA Cup Final. He is Arsenal-mad and a lovely lad, so I am very happy for him. I hope he remembers the day for a long time to come."

ARSENAL OFFER WALCOTT IMPROVED CONTRACT

Walcott set to re-sign by arsenal wiki

According to many sources, Arsenal have offered Theo Walcott a new 4 year contract with much improved terms than there £80,000 p/w offer which was made 2 weeks ago. The wage offer is set to remain at £80,000, however the club has added an improvement percentage clause.

Walcott’s new contract agreement will be subject to a certain yearly percentage increase for next 2 years. This will be determined by his performance and how his ability increases.

Fans’ opinions are divided on Theo Walcott and many have called for him to be sold, however I think that it would be a massive mistake selling him as I firmly believe that next season will be his year. Many have said he has never lived up to his potential and I agree, however he is still young and I think last season he began to show what he was capable off. Some of his performances were magnificent especially his performances against both Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and Tottenham Hotspur at The Emirates.

He may not be worth the £100,000 p/w wage he supposedly wants, but there’s no doubt that he is starting to show his worth and we certainly shouldn’t be looking to sell him.

I was very disappointed that he wasn’t offered a contract extension before the euros and I wrote an article about that a few days ago but the club must now act quickly to offer him a contract before more suitors come in to sign him. There have been reports that Arsenal will speak with Robin Van Persie, Theo Walcott and Alex Song while they are on the Asia tour as the publicity will be significantly less involved.

Chelsea, Liverpool, Juventus and Spurs (apparently) are all interested and Chelsea have even made an inquiry but Arsenal rejected their talks. Hopefully a deal for Walcott can be struck in the coming weeks, as we don’t want another player at the club with speculation driving the players down