Olivier Giroud will miss the next six weeks and will not return to the Arsenal squad until February.

Giroud picked up a hamstring problem against West Ham on 13 December and it was hoped that he would only be out for two-three weeks. However, at the time, Giroud seemed to be in a considerable amount of pain.

Giroud will miss around 10 games for Arsenal, including all three fixtures against Chelsea.

The news comes via L’Equipe in their premium edition.

giroud injury west ham
(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

On the plus side, this does make any departure for the Frenchman in January unlikely, despite is agent’s recent comments.

Giroud has seven goals in 25 appearances this season, however he is averaging just over 48 minutes per game and just under 30 in the Premier League. In the league, he is scoring at a rate of one goal every 90 minutes. For comparison, Alexis Sanchez is averaging a goal every 247 minutes in the league.

Giroud has scored four league goals in his 359 minutes. Alexis has five in 1,237.