Walcott, who turns 19 in March, will be rested for Saturday's Premier League trip to Fulham as the Gunners boss intends to keep the forward fresh for the second leg of their Carling Cup semi-final clash with Tottenham next week.

When Arsenal signed the promising young teenager on January 20, 2006, he admitted it was a "huge gamble", but was confident he would be proved right.

It has certainly been an interesting start to his Arsenal career for the former Southampton trainee, who found himself thrust into the media spotlight following a big-money move and subsequent controversial inclusion in Sven-Goran Eriksson's ill-fated 2006 World Cup squad.

Earlier this season, Walcott - who now has more than 50 appearances - marked his first start in the Champions League with a brace in an impressive display from a more central attacking role as Slavia Prague were crushed 7-0 at Emirates Stadium.

However, he was back on the bench for the Gunners' next match against Liverpool at Anfield, which has summed up his progress.

Walcott has yet to score in the Premier League, and even with Holland striker Robin van Persie out injured he will not get a chance to impress when Wenger takes his men to Craven Cottage on Saturday.

However, the Arsenal manager - who has resisted allowing the youngster to go out on loan - remains "convinced" the England Under-21 forward has got what it takes to make the grade at the highest level.

"He will get where I expect him to be. At the moment he is not. But I'm not worried personally," Wenger said.

"He plays on confidence and he has qualities that will come out.

"I tried to force him to play wide, but I am today convinced he will be a central player.

"He played well in that role against Prague and he may play in very similar games in the centre."

Wenger accepted being in and out of the side was "tough", but insisted it is the way of things at a top club.

"I can understand that that's part, as well, of the learning process of the job. They have to deal with that," said the Arsenal manager.

"The expectation level is very high because he is very young and he has been projected early into the spotlight.

"I still believe he is strong enough and good enough to make it."

Wenger added: "He is happy. He is not happy when he does not play and you don't expect him to be happy when he doesn't play - but I believe he is on the way to get into the team and I am confident that until the end of the season he can make that step.

"I think in the centre is where he will be happiest because he is a direct player, he has good timing for his runs and I believe he will do well.

"Theo wants to fulfil the ambitions and expectation level that people have for him."

Wenger, meanwhile, may be without key defender Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Alex Song because of the African Nations Cup, but the Arsenal manager has no intentions of making any major moves this month, and on Friday allowed unsettled midfielder Lassana Diarra to join Portsmouth.

The Arsenal boss has denied reports he was lining up highly-rated Torpedo Moscow defender Vyacheslav Dmitriev and Russian striker Andrei Arshavin.

Wenger, who is not a big fan of the transfer window, said: "Maybe it should be banned.

"The transfer window is not necessarily a good idea because it can change the force inside the League.

"For example, teams who you have not played against at all are stronger. It is not fair."

The Gunners are unbeaten in 10 games but slipped off the top of the Premier League table following the frustrating 1-1 home draw with Birmingham because Manchester United thrashed Newcastle 6-0.

Wenger said: "We have no special pressure. I feel that we are top because we have the same number of points.

"It is tight, but the pressure is exactly the same."

Arsenal lost 2-1 at Fulham last season and Wenger is expecting a similarly stern test under the Cottagers' new regime.

He said: "They will be more organised under (manager) Roy Hodgson and they will certainly go a direct way with [Marlon] King up front."