Theo Walcott reveals he passed on hat-trick opportunity to allow Olivier Giroud to reach 100th club goal

Arsenal beat BATE Borisov 4-2 in their Europa League clash on Thursday night

Olivier Giroud celebrates his 100th goal with his teammates (Getty)

Theo Walcott admitted that he passed on the opportunity to score a hat-trick for Arsenal to allow Olivier Giroud to take his side’s penalty during their 4-2 win over BATE Borisov on Thursday night.

The 28-year-old had already struck twice in the first half, while Rob Holding had added a third, before the visitors were handed a penalty in the 49th minute of last night’s game.

But Walcott opted against taking the spot kick, allowing Giroud to step up for what was his 100th goal for the North Londoners.

Walcott, who reached the ton-up milestone back in February when he scored against Sutton United in the FA Cup fifth round, was keen for his colleague to become the next man to reach the milestone.

Speaking after the game Walcott, said: “Being a forward you want to score as many goals as you can. There was a chance for me to take the penalty [and score my hat-trick] but knowing that Olivier was on 99 goals I felt like he should.

“It’s a great moment in his career to get 100 goals for Arsenal, I’ve achieved it myself and I know the feeling.

“It’s brilliant so that was why he took the penalty. There were chances but I can’t be too selfish.”

The Gunners have made a strong start to their Europa League campaign, winning their first two matches of the group stages.

Walcott added after the 4-2 victory in Belarus: “I felt we pressed well and attacked very well as a unit especially, for 60 minutes we were very steady.

“We were disappointed with the goal we conceded.

“With the structure we play, we don’t want to be conceding sloppy goals like we did but on the other hand when you score four goals away from home, you’re always likely to win games and we were pleased with that.”