The jury is still out on Theo Walcott as a striker, but Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is not about to jump to conclusions on the strength of a couple of games.

The England international and his teammates have an unexpected Christmas break, a strike on the London Underground train network having forced the postponement of Wednesday’s London derby against West Ham.

It gives Wenger the best part of a week to consider Walcott’s role in the second half of a season that is suddenly shaping up well for Arsenal in the wake of their shock League Cup defeat by fourth-tier side Bradford City, albeit on penalties.

The Gunners have since won 5-2 at Reading and claimed a somewhat fortuitous 1-0 victory over Wigan on Saturday, courtesy of a questionable penalty.

Wigan’s Jean Beausejour was deemed to have fouled Walcott and Mikel Arteta stepped up and slotted the penalty on 60 minutes.

Walcott played a key role at Reading, where he scored the clinching goal after the home side’s fightback from 4-0 behind, but looked less inspiring against Wigan.

The fascinating aspect of Walcott’s ambition to play as a central striker is that his contract is running down.

Wenger, who insists he will not sell Walcott in January, said: “I believe he has potential in that position, I wouldn’t like to judge him on one game. He didn’t get the service at Wigan but his finishing was good and was effective.

“He was possibly a bit isolated, but for me he has the ingredients to play in there.

“He can always be decisive even if he doesn’t have the greatest service. At Wigan he made the decision because he got the penalty.”