Something that has remained in tact this season, no matter what was being written about him in the press, is Didier Deschamps’ unwavering faith in Olivier Giroud.

• Giroud has 61 caps for France and has scored 23 goals
• Has been booed by France fans
• Deschamps says Giroud has proven that he’s ‘effective’

The France manager always selects Giroud, much to the explicable dismay of their fans, and, following yet another superb performance against Luxemburg recently in which the striker scored twice, Deschamps once again backed him to continue his fine form.

“He knows he has a more complicated season, but he proved Saturday that he is always an attacker who, whatever one can say, is effective,” he said.

Deschamps’ words are particularly relevant now, the day after Giroud came on against Southampton and scored within three minutes.

It was only his 10th league goal of the season, which seems low until you look at the scarce amount of minutes the 30-year-old has actually racked up: 1,025.

Therefore, despite not having a massive goal tally, on average, he scores every 102.5 minutes.

To put this into perspective, Alexis Sanchez scores a league goal every 149.5 minutes.