By Nick Lander
Olivier Giroud has come in for some stick since the start of the season. Accused of being an inadequate replacement for Robin van Persie, the Frenchman has quietly knuckled down and got on with the job of scoring goals; 14 so far this season for the Gunners, along with 11 assists.
When speaking to French paper L'Equipe, ahead of France's clash with Germany tonight, the 26-year-old revealed that he is content with his start to life in N5; "when I arrived at Arsenal, there were concerns [over how long it took to score], but they were quickly sorted." Since netting his first goal against Coventry City in the Capital One Cup, the 6' 3" striker has not looked back, "for the first season, [my stats] are better than Robin van Persie when he started, even if when he arrived at Arsenal he was younger."
Whilst hinting that he is a better player than van Persie may be stretching the stats a little, it is undeniable that Giroud has made a solid start to life in London, and looks set for a 20-odd goal season, which is nothing to be sniffed at. It is also worth noting the number of different scorers the club now has, Giroud's contributed 14 goals, Theo Walcott 18 and Lukas Podolski 12. The team finally seem to have managed to rediscover the art of sharing the goals around, something which should be a real positive as the Gunners look to put together a run of consistent performances and results to cement a top four finish.
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