A day in the life of... Theo Walcott

7:06am Theo Walcott woke up in the morning, absolutely delighted that he’d once again got his seven hours of sleep that was recommended by many health experts. He started the day with a bowl of low-GI porridge, and a banana. He ticked off one of his five a day, and smiled delightedly as he then brushed his teeth, following it up with some mouthwash. He timed the water being swished around his mouth for the instructed 30 seconds, and spat it into the basin. As ever, he was having an exceptionally professional morning.

He’d spent 10 years with Arsenal, and he believed this was the year he’d achieve something special with the side. In his interview with Sky Sports earlier, he said he’d scored some great goals, won some great matches. It was 10 years where he could not have been more pleased with what he’d achieved. The consistent qualification in the top four was, to him, perhaps the greatest long-term success out of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.

Before the Chelsea game, Theo Walcott decided that, as captain for the day, he would make a round of visits to his manager, and the rest of his Arsenal team-mates, to make sure they were preparing well ahead of the match. Walcott was, as ever, extraordinarily proud of himself for performing the basic tasks that were expected of him.

10:30am His first visit was to the manager’s house, as a meeting with Arsene Wenger before a game was the routine for the day’s captain. He’d only been to Wenger’s house twice - just before he signed from Southampton, and then when he was thinking about leaving to join Manchester City. He was on time for the meeting, and was disappointed when Wenger didn’t mention it.

Walcott spotted a few brochures and blueprints on Wenger’s table, in his home office, and asked what they were for. Wenger said that while he had no immediate plans to retire, he wanted to make sure that he could do something just as meaningful with his post-football career. The blueprints, he explained were for a bottling factory that he was thinking of buying. He admitted it was a bit peculiar, but he'd developed a passion for it over the last decade.

11:42am He then decided that he’d go to see Mesut Ozil. He always loved seeing Ozil on the pitch, and off it, the two of them regularly discussed their passion for fashion. An hour ago, Walcott had texted Ozil to say he was on his way to his house. Ozil quickly replied back to say that he’d be in the garden, and to come through the door, as it was on the latch.

1:11pm Walcott arrived at Ozil’s house, and while many people would have felt a little odd about walking straight into someone’s home, even with permission, Walcott did not feel self-conscious at all. He walked into the reception and called out, “Mesut?” and heard nothing back.

He tried the kitchen. “Mesut?” Nothing back. He tried shouting up the stairs, and then remembered he said he’d be in the garden, so he walked through into the huge green expanse. He couldn’t see Ozil anywhere. He walked all the way around his garden, something that made Walcott wonder whether was more of an estate than a garden, but still he could not find him.

Giving up, he walked back to the house, only to see Ozil come through the front door. “Ah, sorry, Theo. I thought I’d be able to get to the shop and back before you turned up. You must have thought I’d gone missing.”

“Ha ha, yeah.” He replied. “You’d disappeared!”

2:33pm For his final visit, he wanted to make sure that he learned all he could from the club captain, Per Mertesacker. In his own mind, Walcott believed that he was the natural successor to Mertesacker as club captain, just as he was the natural successor to Thierry Henry in terms of style and ability.

He assumed that Mertesacker thought the same way about his skills, but he didn’t want to upset him, and thought it politic to at least have a discussion with him before the match. Who knows, there was a slim chance that Mertesacker would have an idea that Walcott hadn’t considered, even if that was an extremely remote possibility.

Mertesacker suggested they have a chat in the kitchen, as he was cooking something for the family. Walcott didn’t like to mention that he thought he was probably one of the club’s most underrated chefs, and watched on. Mertesacker had a glass bowl balanced over a pan of just-boiled water. He asked Walcott to pass him the crumbled dark chocolate he had on a chopping board, and dropped it into the bain-marie. “Hold on a minute, Theo. We’ll have a chat in a second, I just need to finish this meltdown.”

4:13pm Arriving back at home, Walcott was satisfied. As long as everything went as well as it did today, he thought, Arsenal would be fine against Chelsea.