Arsenal striker Theo Walcott believes the club's qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League has provided the Gunners with a timely confidence boost ahead of the busy Christmas schedule.

Arsenal secured safe passage to the next round of Europe's top club competition with a 3-0 win over Olympiacos on Wednesday night and Walcott is expecting he good times to continue at the Emirates Stadium throughout December and into the New Year.

"The confidence in that dressing room is spreading out to all the players," Walcott told Arsenal's official website.

"That is what you want going into this Christmas period because during it, it is where it pans out where you are going to be in the Premier League at the end. So come January, we will see how it goes.

"The Europa League wasn't even in our mindset at all at the start of this game. We felt we were going to go through.

"We wanted to win this game and the Champions League is where we want to be. All the guys work tremendously hard to make that happen."