Olivier Giroud has been singled out for his performance in Arsenal’s 4-1 win over Sunderland today.
The French striker made his return from injury, coming on from the bench with the scores tied at 1-1. Giroud is on the pitch a matter of minutes before making an impact, scoring with a sublime volley with his first touch of the ball.
Olivier adds to that five minutes later with his following touch of the football, with an outrageous headed effort which somehow finds its way into the goal.
Thierry Henry has moved to praise Giroud’s immediate impact on his return from injury.
He said: “When he came on I thought he was going to score. You have to give Kieran Gibbs a lot of credit because he picked him out [for the first goal]. Olivier Giroud is very humble. It is a great assist and a great finish.
“The second goal is all him, Mesut Ozil takes a good corner but he has no right to score from there.
“You have to give him his credit. He’s been injured and people sometimes doubt him.”
Alexis Sanchez also bagged himself a brace in the match, but could now face competition for the central role in the side, having nailed his name on the teamsheet so far this term.
The Chilean has been impressive since making the move to centre-forward, but Arsene Wenger will now have some thinking to do.
Will Giroud and Alexis now share the role? Will Sanchez need a rest anyway?
Pat J
Great second half. First half was poor, largely because of bad team selection. Combination of Iwobi and Ox is rarely effective, especially in a Premier league game.
He scored 2 absolute striker’s goals, especially the header, magnificent. Were those 2 goals his first 2 touches?
I still prefer Sanchez up top,plus Giroud is a good substitute and he always score goals coming from the bench. We have a very good squad depth though and I can’t wait to have the rest of the injured players back… COYG
Which midfield combination is best for a 4-4-2?
Cazorla Coquelin
Cazorla Xhaka
Elneny Coquelin
Ramsey Xhaka
Super-sub lamppost is back ???
It’s a Shame about Ramsey though ??
Ramsey got Alexis a confidence boosting goal. See how happy Alexis was with that second, he really wanted it, then had a little moment with Ozil. Ramsey’s energy was electric, Sun didn’t know who to mark or where to mark them.
There’s very few players who could score from Ozil’s cross in the way that Giroud did. Superb finish. Most would try to put some venom on it, but in the way that Ozil and Cazorla can have the deftest of touches, Giroud done similar with his head which is very difficult to do. Someone earlier said they were a real strikers finishes, they were at that. Just a pity that Liv or City didn’t drop some points, I thought Liv might, ah well, we just need to escape this next month with nobody making ground on us, and if we do, I think the following month you will see a very determined Arsenal.