SAINTS forward Theo Walcott joked that his six-year-old son will be easier to face now his side are off the bottom of the Premier League, admitting: “He kept getting onto me about it.”

The former Arsenal man, 33, made only his second start of the Premier League season during the 1-0 victory over Leicester on Saturday.

Walcott had appeared in all three games prior to the St Mary’s clash under manager Ruben Selles, but only as a substitute. A feeling had been growing that he would make his way back into the XI.

Walcott is a leader in the dressing room and works alongside captain James Ward-Prowse and the likes of Kyle Walker-Peters to guide and advise.

But it will be one of the group’s younger starlets, Charly Alcaraz, 20, who Walcott will have to thank for helping appease his young son – Arlo – with a goal that lifted Saints off the foot of the table.

He said: “We're not getting carried away, but it's nice knowing we're not that team at the bottom because my son keeps on getting on to me about being at the bottom and that we're going down!

“He's only six. Arlo loves football right now and he makes me love it more too,” Walcott added. “He'll be asleep when I get back but in the morning he'll be very happy.

“I've been challenging players. It's a different sort of mould of a player we have at this moment in time and, obviously being 33 and nearly 34, I want to be challenging these players, it's as simple as that.

“I want to be in the team. I was and particularly in the first half, I felt good. It's my first start in a long time. But I thought there was more in me as well. But you sensed Leicester were getting control of the game, particularly in the second half with the changes made.

“We're a team and a unit and it's nice to see not just the players that started, but the players on the bench, even the lads that weren't involved, because we've got a big squad here, it's nice to see the positive smiles and energy afterwards.”

Walcott could remain in Selles’s first team for the visit to Old Trafford next weekend and it would be the first time he has started back-to-back Premier League games since the first two matches of last campaign.

Saints academy product Walcott has experienced trophy wins with Arsenal and major tournaments with England – but will now look to do the other side of the job, and keep Saints in the Premier League against all the odds.

“It's very different. I've never really experienced this. Obviously, Everton we had a few scenarios like this, but this is a bit more sort of intense, I'd say,” he admitted.

“But right now, quite frankly, it doesn't remember how we play, we just have to get results. Simple as that. Make things happen, grind out results, work hard for each other.

“If you have people who just work hard for each other, good things will happen and I felt that happened today. Even though we weren't great, we were great at doing all the dirty stuff, all the stuff you don't really want to do, but we did it and that's important to continue that now.”

Walcott continued: “I've definitely got it in me. I mean, even the fact like the manager has the faith to play me as well, I think that shows that he feels like he has to throw me in.

“I've been here for a while now. People think I've been injured but I haven't been, I've been here. I've been trying to help out the young players and things like that and Ruben wanted to go with something different today and I was pleased that he did that.”