Southampton attacker Theo Walcott was proud of his goal in their 1-1 draw at former club Arsenal this week.

And he insists he never thought twice about celebrating it.

Walcott told the Daily Mail: "I'm a father to two kids. When I spoke to Mel and she told me about how the kids celebrated when I scored… I mean, you're teaching kids what? If you score a goal don't celebrate? The amount of joy and the smiles on their faces, that's what it's about for me. My kids were so happy which makes me happy.

"People have asked would I have celebrated if there were fans there. I would always celebrate a goal. I remember scoring a hat-trick for Arsenal against Southampton and I celebrated. It's one of the best feelings you can have in football. It brings people together.

"You can see the emotions in the players and you're working for this team now. That's what it's about. You want to win every game. It's like saying, 'The Arsenal players are kicking me!' They're going to kick me. They're going to try to stop me."

He added: "I did actually picture myself scoring the night before. I've got so much love for Arsenal. They did so much for me and the fans were fantastic. But I was there to do a job and that was to get a result.

"It was a shame we couldn't hang on to the three points because we dominated the game. I sensed a bit of fear, particularly when we kicked off and Arsenal dropped off. It just shows how far Southampton have come. We have a lot of confidence. We have a lot of respect for Arsenal but we know how strong we are and we showed it. We're third in the table and deserve to be there."