LISTEN: Theo Walcott urges England stars to emulate Premier League performances for Three Lions

England’s stars must emulate their Premier League performances whilst wearing the Three Lions, Theo Walcott told talkSPORT.

The Arsenal attacker, who has been confirmed to start in the World Cup qualifier against Malta on Saturday, believes it’s time for England to forget their recent struggles and build upon the rare good patches shown by the nation.

And this will come from the players showing the form for England they show week in week out when turning out for their respective clubs.

It has often been a criticism that English players perform well for their clubs but fail on the international stage, and Walcott told talkSPORT that the next step to success is finding parity with performance levels.

The 27-year-old said: “That’s the next step. The games that have gone have gone now, and it’s all about this England weekend. It’s coming down to working hard, work rate, and it’s having that faith behind you.

“We need to bring that Premier League experience and performance to an England shirt. The Premier League, for me, is one of the best leagues in the world, and there’s no reason we can’t replicate that in an England shirt at all.

“There have been patches, there have certainly been good performances, but we seem to be dwelling on the disappointments and not really looking at the good performances that have happened in the past.”

England are undoubtedly favourites for the clash against Malta, as they search for two wins from two games in their qualification group.

This means the Three Lions will have most of the play, and Walcott wants to ensure his teammates don’t become scared of the ball - as they did during Euro 2016 - and take risks as they search for victory.

He added: “Obviously we’re going to have a lot of the ball, but it’s what we do with the ball. We don’t want to only be playing pretty football at times. We need to make sure we play with no fear and take the odd little risk when needed, but be patient as well.

“The games changing now, in the Premier League it’s harder to call games, and at international level it’s getting harder.

“Teams are getting better, they know how to do a deep block and keep 11 men behind the ball, and we need to find different ways to break that.

“But I’m sure we will with the players we’ve got the in the dressing room and the experience we have now.”