Agreed Both Walcott and Oxo can play centrally too. Oxo played as a central attacking mid for Southampton and Walcott can flourish through the middle at CF, if he's gets a chance to in that position consistently. What what is working well now, is that we've got Walcott, Gervinho and Oxo competing for the wide berths and adaptability with their flexibility. Who knows, Oxo could become the attacking creative midfielder that we're looking for? I don't buy into the argument about Walcott being crap, having no football brain, having got no control, not being able to dribble and only having pace as an attribute. If that were the case, he'd have been found out a long time ago. True that his decision making does let him down, but you've only to look at the amount of times he has the ball to see that he is involved in creating a lot of chances, so he's bound to fluff his lines occasionally. But he does create.
Sorry, the straight 4-4-2 is out-dated and unless you are going totally defensive, putting 8 men behind the ball at all times, it is very easily countered. You simply cannot play a 4 man midfield these days. Also, a large number of our players would have to be moved on, Van Persie probably being one of them. He simply would not have a place in a 4-4-2.
This formation is pretty similar to a 4231 which works well. http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/02/12/teams-of-the-decade-9-arsenal-2001-04/
