Even though the Arsenal and France international forward Olivier Giroud has an impressive goal record in the Premier League this season, going by how many minutes it has taken him to score, there have not been too many Arsenal fans calling for Arsene Wenger to start him more often.
That is because of the excellent performances that we have been seeing from Alexis Sanchez in his new central role, but according to a report in The Mirror the former Chelsea star and current pundit Pat Nevin thinks we may be missing a trick with the powerful Frenchman.
One question that has been raised a lot about the Gunners since the two damaging away defeats in a row to Everton and Man City is the one about Mesut Ozil and how to make sure that he has an impact for us in every game. Nevin reckons that having Giroud as the centre forward is the way, as his ability as a target man gets the whole team further forward and that allows more space for the German play maker to work his magic.
He said, “People always have a go at Giroud when he plays in a big game and he’s not holding the ball up.
“But he’s pushing everything further forward, he’s heading balls down and people like Ozil get more time on the ball.”
Maybe he is right and the fact that Ozil is getting into scoring positions more often but only has two EPL assists to his name so far backs up that theory. Perhaps we should also take note of the stats on Squawka.com that show that for the amount of playing time in the league this season, Giroud has a better rate of scoring and assisting than Ozil, Alexis and Theo Walcott and Ozil has the lowest of the lot with just 0.13 per 90 minutes.
So could Giroud help Arsenal get the best from Ozil? Is it time for Wenger to give his fellow countryman a few more starts?
Bob.