Olivier Giroud has grown into his role as the main striker for Arsenal, and this season he finally broke the jinx that stopped him scoring against the big teams. He was on a brilliant scoring run since January but has how been barren for five games in a row, and his contribution in the last two matches against Chelsea and Swansea were minimal to say the least.
He was so invisible in the Swansea defeat that Arsene Wenger replaced him after an hour with our striker-in-waiting Theo Walcott, but our manager has forgiven Giroud previous lapses (like against Monaco) by giving the French international the chance to bounce back in the following game. This prompts me to think that Wenger will yet again start with Giroud against United, and the striker himself has been preparing himself for another comeback in Sunday’s game.
“We all want to score against these big teams and it was a great feeling to do it, especially because last season I didn’t score too much against the big four,” Giroud said on the Arsenal Official website. “Those were great goals for me and I want to score one more against them.
“I try to bring something to the team. Especially in big games, you need to be ready. Sometimes you have doubts and it’s not easy. You miss confidence and everything can go the wrong way.
“But I’m ok to play with pressure, I have experience with that now and it shows that confidence must be high to be competitive.”
“I think we have all improved our game,” he said. “We know each other very well now and I’m settled in the team.
“Even if I had a bad injury at the beginning of the season, I came back stronger with a great determination to bounce back.
“We didn’t have a fantastic start and we needed a fresh attitude and more determination. I think we were in a good run before the disappointing result against Swansea.
“I hope that we’re going to bounce back against Manchester United.”
So Wenger has a big decision to make this weekend. After promising Theo Walcott that his future lies as a main striker in an effort to get the Englishman to sign a new contract extension, Le Prof could give Theo a big vote of confidence by starting him in this crucial match, but will he rely once again on Giroud proving that he can bounce back once again?
What would you do?