Olivier Giroud spoke after the Crystal Palace win about the importance of scoring early goals and believes entering games ‘aggressively‘ is crucial i the Premier League.

The Frenchman managed to score in the 16th minute against the south London team – a crucial goal considering they went up the other end and scored just 12 minutes later.

After the match, the 28-year-old highlighted the importance of getting early goals, not just in terms of the overall result, but also the effect it has on the way we play.

He also revealed that being ‘aggressive‘ when it comes to the Premier League is key.

“Yes, obviously when you play a Premier League game you need to be ready [to be aggressive], you need to have full commitment in the game,” the Frenchman said. “Maybe we missed a little bit of that last week but I think we have started the game really well and we have shown that we have learnt from our mistakes.

“Maybe we could have been a bit more efficient up front, [then] we would have walked away with the three points.”

 

As pleasant it is as a fan to watch us score early, when it’s just one goal our style of play can go one of two ways. Of course, as Giroud said, it can loosen us up a bit, take the edge off and allow us to play some of our best stuff, but, in the past, it’s also made us a little too laid back.

Taking the pressure off shouldn’t mean abandoning our structure. However, sometimes we can make mistakes. As long as we score early and remain disciplined afterwards, we should have no problem grinding out more wins of a similar nature.