Laurent Koscielny believes Olivier Giroud’s fine form is down to the forward “smelling situations well”.
The France striker has scored nine times in his last 11 club appearances, including a vital Champions League hat-trick at Olympiacos and a brace at Anfield.
While Giroud’s goals - he has 18 for Arsenal in all competitions - have caught the eye, Koscielny has been impressed with his compatriot’s all-round play.
"You can see now that he smells the situations well - when he needs to shoot quickly, or control the ball"
“When he plays simple, he’s the best,” Koscielny told Arsenal Player. “He’s tall, he’s big and when you try to find him, he keeps the ball. No defender can pass him.
“He’s so massive and that’s one of the best qualities for a striker. When he can play like this, with one or two touches and staying in the box - which is where we want him - we can score in the air.
“I think Olivier has a work rate for the team which is very high. He’s not just a forward, he’s always there [when we have] free-kicks or corners against us.
“He’s the first guy who tries to head the ball. It’s important that he can give assists too.
“You can see now that he smells the situations well - when he needs to shoot quickly, or control the ball, like he did against Liverpool with his second goal.
“I think he’s in good form this season and I hope he will stay in that form until the end of the season.”
Olivier Giroud
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
