DAVID MCGOLDRICK has backed Theo Walcott to succeed where Jermaine Pennant failed - and become an Arsenal legend.

Walcott moved from Saints to Highbury for a fee of £5m that is likely to rise to £12m and could make his Arsenal debut against a Birmingham City side including Pennant at St Andrews today.

The 16-year-old has been likened to the Birmingham winger because he moved to Arsenal amid a fanfare of publicity similar to that which greeted Pennant's £2m arrival from Notts County in 1999.

Pennant only started two Premiership games in six years at Highbury and, after loan spells at Watford and Leeds, he went to Birmingham, only to be jailed for three months for drink driving.

The 23-year-old is only just getting his career back on track but McGoldrick, 18, right, is adamant that Walcott can be successful with the Gunners.

Like Pennant, McGoldrick is a product of Notts County's Centre of Excellence and he played with Walcott in Saints' under-18s last season.