Olivier Giroud began his career at Ligue 2 outfit, Grenoble Foot 38 and made a handful of appearances before going further down to FC Istres, a National outfit (Third Division).
His eye catching performances in FC Istres prompted Tours FC to get a signature. A move that saw him smash in 38 goals in 69 appearances in just two seasons.
Montpellier Herault SC came calling with an even bigger challenge but Giroud helped his team to a 14th place finish in his first season at the club scoring 14 goals in 43 appearances. In his final season with the French outfit, Giroud contributed immensely to his team’s cause with 21 goals in Ligue 1 and four other goals in Cup competition. His 21-goal haul in Montpellier played a vital role in their maiden Ligue 1 win and it was expected that Giroud among others would find new suitors that summer, and Arsenal came calling.
In Giroud’s first season in North London, he had a knack for scoring all his goals in the capital city and it was really strange to know all his 11 Premier League goals last season were scored either scored in the Emirates or against London-based sides like Fulham, West Ham and Tottenham. He also scored in other competition totaling his goal count to 17 in his debut season.
Giroud had a great preseason by his standards, especially when Arsenal was heavily linked with forwards like Gonzalo Higuain and Luis Suarez all summer. After a joint combination of seven goals in the Asian Tour, Emirates Cup and the friendly against Manchester City in Helsinki, Arsenal began their Premier League campaign with an embarrassing defeat to Aston Villa but Giroud scored the match opener after some good work from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
In Arsenal’s two-legged European qualifying affair with Fenerbahce, Giroud registered his name on the score sheet with a well-taken penalty in the away victory at Istanbul. When the Gunners visited Craven Cottage to take on Fulham, Giroud’s Premier League London scoring habit continued as he showed some improvisation to stop Aaron Ramsey’s shot before slotting it past Stockdale in goal. The much anticipated North London Derby against high-spending Tottenham arrived just before transfer deadline day and all it took was a Giroud finish to make it One-Nil to the Arsenal.
Following the acquisition of record signing, Mesut Ozil, Giroud was a beneficiary of his inch-perfect assists as he latched on to the German’s pass before slotting the ball past a hapless Westwood – his first Premier League goal outside the capital.0
In the wake of Arsenal’s Champions League curtain raiser against Olympique Marseille, the Handsome French Bloke has set his sights on winning the EPL Golden Boot after his blistering start to the campaign,
“I must have a chance [to win the EPL Golden Boot]. I feel good and, with these players giving me chances, it has to be a possibility.
“That is something I aimed to achieve when I joined Arsenal. Now that we have Mesut Ozil, it can get even better”.
When you have a teammate that created a goalscoring chance for Giroud and plethora of chances for Theo Walcott, you can only be confident that more chances will come in the future. Many Arsenal fans have been quick to voice their frustrations and lash out on Walcott’s bad day at the office, but this brilliant article by Arsenal Arsenal, backs Walcott and has urged the fans to give him a chance.
…It wasn’t Theo’s best day in front of goal. In fact he was about as clinical as a bowl of bacteria. But he has shown us repeatedly that he can finish well in one-on-ones and there is no reason to think he has lost that ability overnight. – Arsenal Arsenal
Giroud may have scored four Premier League goals in his first four games but he has to be mindful that he’s in the best league in the world with a vast array of top quality strikers scattered across the 20 teams. Like Arsenal, the traditional top four teams boast of a lot of attacking talent and other teams in the league have their star forwards that score goals on a consistent basis.
The first name on everyone’s lips to win the EPL Golden Boot again is Robin van Persie, that has won the prestigious award for the past two seasons with 30 goals and 26 goals respectively. This season he already has three goals and he will be odds on to score more as the season progresses. Manchester United also have Shrek, that hasn’t been on the goals lately but he opened his Premier League account against Crystal Palace.
At Chelsea, new signing, Samuel Eto’o, hasn’t got off the mark yet but his pedigree speaks in volumes as he has won the Pichichi in Spain and was only beaten for the Golden Boot in 2011 despite scoring 21 goals, as Antonio Di Natale scored 28. Fernando Torres no longer inspires fear in opposition defenders but in his debut campaign in the league, he was the second highest goalscorer after Cristiano Ronaldo.
Liverpool has an emerging Daniel Sturridge that has already netted four goals so far in the league and last season’s goalscoring predator, Luis Suarez, will soon be back with a bite bang. At Manchester City, Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Alvaro Negredo are massive goalscoring threats, and the likes of Christian Benteke, Roberto Soldado, Romelu Lukaku and Miguel Michu will punish you if you blink.
I really like Giroud and I pray he scores a lot of goals but if he wants to win the EPL Golden Boot at the end of the season, all he needs is consistency. At Arsenal, there are a lot of players that can create more chances than the guns owned by rebels across Africa but these chances need to be finished by the likes of Giroud and Walcott to put games beyond doubt.
The season is still young, but I wish Giroud all the best in his bid to become the alpha-dog in the Premier League.
Sayonara.
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