Danny Welbeck describes 'beautiful feeling' as Theo Walcott labels Arsenal striker as 'special player'

The England international scored the winner against Leicester on his long-awaited return from injury

Danny Welbeck celebrates his late winner against Leicester (GETTY IMAGES)

Danny Welbeck described his winning goal for Arsenal in their 2-1 win over Leicester as a "beautiful feeling".

The striker scored in the 95th minute of what was his first game since April last year.

Welbeck was introduced in the 83rd minute at the Emirates as Arsenal sought a winner against top-of-the-league Leicester. The visitors had taken the lead through a Jamie Vardy penalty but were left holding on when Danny Simpson was sent off for two bookable offences.

Theo Walcott equalled the scores before Welbeck's dramatic winner deep into injury time.

"It has been a bit of a rollercoaster for me missing a lot of football," said Welbeck. "It's the first time in my career I've missed so much football. My family and friends know what I've been through and to get that winning goal is a beautiful feeling.

"It's only one goal, I want to be out there playing minutes and staying fit now."

Walcott added: "He (Welbeck) obviously hasn't played for months and to get straight into the mix of it in such a big game, with the last kick of the game, it's special players that come out in games like this."

Walcott, whose equaliser on 70 minutes was Arsenal's first shot on target, feels the victory could be a decisive moment in the title race.

The substitute told Sky Sports: "Leicester are a good team, they are no mugs, but this could be a turning point for us.

"It shows everyone is ready when given the opportunity, I know we were against 10 men, but we always tend to find it difficult against 10 men."

Leicester were left to rue Simpson's sending-off and manager Claudio Ranieri was not happy with the decision.

He said: "It was a fantastic match, very fast, but I don't know if in a normal match (Simpson's) two yellow cards was a sending-off. I think the referee was a little more severe against us in that point. They were fouls, but not two yellow cards.

"It was a great match, 11 versus 11 we win the match, but that is OK. The match was full of fouls, so why send off the player? Come on."

The Italian added: "We know Arsenal is a fantastic team, with so many fantastic players full of skills, but we tried to counter-attack and we controlled the match very well.

"It was the last chance, they were smarter than us, that's OK, that's football, but I'm happy because we showed a good performance. We are top of the table, we have to fight and carry on smiling."