Arsene Wenger has revealed that Olivier Giroud predicted Arsenal would score against Red Star Belgrade on Thursday night.

Speaking after the match, Wenger revealed that Giroud told him that he knew the Gunners would score.

“At some stage he came to the touchline and told me we will score,” Wenger told reporters. “That’s Giroud, he keeps belief when it’s tough.

“That’s why he scores at moments you do not expect him to score.”

It took 85 minutes and the Serbian side getting reduced to 10-men, but it was Giroud himself who broke the deadlock with the match-winning goal. And what a goal it was.

The France international probably couldn’t predict the type of goal the Gunners would score – it was a beauty.

Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere and Giroud pinged, chipped, headed the ball to each other from just outside the area to inside the box where the 31-year-old scored with an overhead volley.

https://twitter.com/btsportfootball/status/921086455488884736

It’s a good result because it was a tough stadium to go and play in considering we had the likes of 17-year-old Reiss Nelson and 18-year-old Joe Willock in our starting XI.

Would the goal have been scored if Red Star weren’t reduced to 10-men thanks to Francis Coquelin hamming up an elbow to the face? Who knows. Although it seems that Giroud at least believed we could and that’s what you need.

Giroud has now scored twice in the Europa League this season but this stunner was his first from open play.