Hey Arsenal fans, I would not be so quick to write off our France international centre forward Olivier Giroud if I was you, despite the fact that the big man is yet to start a single game for the Gunners this season. In fact I think Giroud could be set to lead the line when we travel to Burnley for the Premier League match on Sunday.
There are a couple of major reasons behind my theory as well, although I suppose the striker’s fitness could be the deciding factor. The Frenchman has been suffering with a toe injury, apparently, but he has been training and so I assume he will be available if Arsene Wenger wants him and after the boss did not sub Alexis Sanchez in the Champions League win over Basel I think he is going to be rested this weekend.
While I know that the current Arsenal front three of Walcott and Iwobi on either side of Alexis has been doing very well, I think that Burnley would be a great game in which to play Giroud through the middle again. For one thing they are likely to defend deep after seeing what we did to Chelsea and Basel and that will restrict the space available.
In that situation and with the Burnley defence being fairly physical, the strength and stature of the Frenchman could come into play more than pace and movevment. There should still be room on the flanks for Iwobi and Walcott but once again Giroud is the man to have in the middle for crosses.
So that is my tactical reason for Giroud to start and there is also the case of rotation and using the whole squad and on that note I think the boss is keen to give Alexis a rest before he heads off on another long haul trip to play for Chile in the international break.
If Wenger was not going to give the overworked Chilean a break, would he really have left him on for the full 90 minutes against Basel when the game was already won? Of course it could be Lucas Perez that comes in for Sanchez but I have a feeling it will be a first start of the season for Olivier? What do you think?
Bob.