At first I thought that Arsenal were getting the same bad luck as last season when, after the likes of Gibbs and Arteta had picked up little knocks, our main centre forward Olivier Giroud was ruled out for the rest of the year after an innocuous challenge at the end of the Everton game.
But when you look at it, out luck was not so bad after all because it happened in time for Arsene Wenger to go and sign Danny Welbeck from Man United as cover. And if the same thing had happened in the second half of last season it would probably have been a disaster and may have seen the Gunners drop out of the top four and fail to win a trophy again.
But even though he is not the only option anymore, Giroud is still a massive player for Arsenal, as Laurent Koscielny explains to Arsenal Player, and he could be really important for us when he returns around the turn of the year. His French team mate also believes he will come back stronger and more determined than ever, as long as he gets the full support of the Arsenal players and fans in his difficult spell on the sidelines.
Koscielny said, “Olivier is an important player for us. He’s very strong during the game and he’s scored a lot of goals. So for us it’s very difficult to lose him. But I know him and I know he will come back stronger.
“He will want to show everyone that he can be a very good player and a good striker in the Premier League and in Europe. It is important for us that Olivier keeps this mentality and comes back stronger for us.
“We have a lot of players in the forward positions now so we have a solution. We played with Alexis, Yaya Sanogo and Lukas Podolski, so we have a solution and now we need to be a unit and to prepare the same way to win the game.
“When you are injured for three, four or five months, the most difficult thing is to keep motivated and be happy enough to come back. Some days you could just say I don’t want to come back – I can’t arrive this week. We need to be with him.
“He knows all of the players are with him, and we are behind him to help him to come back quickly, stronger, because we need to play with him to score a lot of goals. I think he will be very important for us in the last six months of the season.
“For a striker we talk a lot about his goals, but when you watch Olivier during a game you can see his job, which is not just offensively but also defensively because he can come back for free-kicks to help us.
“When we play the long ball, he can keep the ball and he’s strong so the defenders can’t touch the ball. He’s very, very important for us. Now we need to do without him and I hope there is a player who can replace him and do the job well.”
Hopefully we won’t miss the big French forward too much in the next few months, with Welbeck and Sanogo able to step up and fill his size 14 boots. And I am sure that everyone at Arsenal, especially his biggest fan Arsene Wenger, wishes him well and that he is back as soon as possible.
So, Gooners, how much do you think we will miss Giroud?