Arsene Wenger has claimed that Olivier Giroud is one of the best strikers in the Premier League, but is he right?
No, he’s not, he’s not ‘one of the best’ – he is the best.
The Frenchman has been in great form recently, netting his seventh and eight goals in his last six games against Newcastle at the weekend, taking his tally to 17 and four assists for the season despite missing a massive chunk of it with a broken leg.
His Premier League stats alone are even more impressive with 13 goals and three assists in just 19 appearances, only 14 of which have been starts and in only eight of those did he play the full match.
He averages a goal every 92 minutes in the league. Want a comparison? Diego Costa scores every 102 minutes. Flavour of the season, Harry Kane, every 98.
Wenger said
“Is he one of the best in the Premier League now? I think so.
“He is scoring the goals to prove it, he is a fighter as well and I believe he is a team player. He is always fighting for the team even when not scoring.
“Of course it helps when you have the quality of players he has around him. When you are a striker you are fed by the people around you and the quality of balls he gets is very good. At 22 and 23 he played in division 3 in France and today he is at Arsenal. I believe there is still room for improvement.”
It’s not hard to see why Wenger would make such a declaration because as we’ve discussed on this site a number of times it’s not just the goals that make Giroud an invaluable addition to this Arsenal side.
His link and hold-up play as well as his contribution to the defensive side of the game, especially when Arsenal are facing set-pieces, is exemplary and often get overlooked by people who just bash out stats and don’t actually watch games.
Branded a flop by when he first arrived, it’s a tag that has stuck in the minds of many fans however it is interesting to note that the media narrative is changing somewhat.
They’ve gone from calling him a flop to asking what he has to do to be loved by all Arsenal fans.
It’s kind of hilarious that the press are asking why some people bought into the narrative they themselves established without acknowledging the role they played in the whole situation.
Oh wait, that’s not hilarious, that’s just what a large number of them do on a regular basis.