Olivier Giroud says Arsene Wenger is trying to ease him back into competition despite the Frenchman’s eagerness to lead the line for the Gunners after missing most of this season through injury.
Giroud suffered a freak fractured leg against Everton in late August and only recently returned (with a bang) against Manchester United when he netted a sensational half-volley, how it was nothing more than a consolation goal.
The 28-year-old started in the win away to West Bromwich Albion last weekend and then came on in the last 25 minutes to transform Arsenal’s attack last night against Southampton. While he is incredibly eager to get involved, Wenger has stressed the importance of slowly re-integrating into regular first team football to avoid any fresh setbacks.
Giroud told Arsenal Player:
I feel good. I told the boss I am ready to play every game, so he calmed me down a little bit and told me, ‘we need to preserve you a little bit.
You’ve come back from injury after three months and we don’t have to go too quickly. Let’s take the time to come back well because we are not in a rush. We are going to play a lot of games in December and January’.
I did good work with the medical staff and I always had Manchester United in my head as a target. It was a great feeling to score, even if the result was not good, I felt good on my comeback and I’m sure it will be a positive from those bad results.
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I can’t wait to play more. I feel good and my ankle is alright. It’s clear now so I’m looking forward to playing on Saturday.
Giroud showed us what we’ve been missing with a superb cameo last night. He was certainly a super-sub as the France international offered a more physical focal point of our attack and was a constant threat.
With Danny Welbeck as a good option upfront, Giroud is able to be eased back into proceedings. The fixture schedule is starting to pile up so Wenger needs as many players fit and available as possible.
Great to have Olivier back, look forward to seeing more of him over the next month.
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