Olivier Giroud is in fine form at the moment and on Sunday he managed to bring his goal tally for Arsenal to 50 goals.

The Frenchman’s name is now up among some of Arsenal’s greatest players, including Ian Wright and Robert Pires. After the match, Giroud insisted that although he’s happy with the achievement, this is only the beginning.

“I’m pleased with that and I don’t want to stop here,” the 29-year-old said.

“I tried to do a good job for my team-mates [against Aston Villa] and I did well with the penalty. I was the one who had to take it.”

I’m the first to admit I wasn’t convinced by Giroud for a long time. He had a certain arrogance which didn’t seem warranted and I was convinced he wouldn’t last long at our club. However, he’s proved me wrong and become an incredible team player. Even when he wasn’t scoring, he was happy to come on as a substitute as long as he could benefit the team, and worked himself into the ground to get back to his best.

What we’re seeing now is Giroud’s hard work and Wenger’s faith in him paying off.