Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud said that his present scoring spell is the best he has enjoyed at the club since his arrival.
Giroud has scored 13 goals in 19 Premier League games, and has been in great goal scoring form in the Premier League in the last few games.
“It’s my best spell since I’ve been at Arsenal. I have to keep it going, I don’t want to stop,” Giroud said. “I scored 16 or 17 goals last season in the league. I would like to do better, and above all help the team achieve our objectives. That’s the most important thing.
“Finishing second or third would be very good, even if we’ll be ready if Chelsea slip up. Winning the FA Cup is also an objective. I am continuing my progress. I feel really good at Arsenal. It’s important to keep improving.”
According to the stats, Giroud has scored a goal every 97 minutes in the Premier League in the present season.
“I saw that statistic, it’s an interesting one,” he said. “That means that there has been an improvement since I arrived at Arsenal. The coach keeps telling me. I have improved in a lot of areas of the game. I want to continue, I can still do better. I still have plenty of good years ahead of me.”
However, Giroud had to endure criticism for his costly mistakes against Monaco, which eventually ended Arsenal’s campaign in the Champions League.
“Of course, it came at a bad time, because I wasn’t clinical in that game,” Giroud said, referring to his spurning of a host of clear-cut opportunities in a match which helped cost Arsenal a quarterfinal place.
“I got a bit of stick for that. But it’s good to have shown the mental strength to come back even stronger and prove that the criticism no longer affects me. I have created a shell for myself, whether there are good or bad times. I know when I am good or not. I don’t need people to tell me that.”
Giroud has definitely come back well from all the abuse he received for those misses, but Arsenal fans would see it is a fantastic opportunity that went begging in the Champions League, as they would not have got an easier draw than Monaco, especially when compared with recent seasons. Unless Giroud can show that he can be relied on to score goals in the big games as well, it will be hard for fans to keep from looking for more world class strikers that the club can bring in.