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Wenger - Giroud a handful for anyone

Arsene Wenger has praised the "exceptional" Olivier Giroud after the striker's fourth goal in five games settled Sunday's north London derby.

The French international has been in fine form this season, scoring in all but one of Arsenal's competitive fixtures so far.

Giroud enjoyed a fruitful pre-season too, scoring eight times, and Wenger is delighted with the striker's development.

"It shows you that every striker who comes here improves," Wenger told Arsenal Player.

"We must have some quality to develop this aspect of the players. I don't fix him any limit but today he showed a good mixture of physical commitment and technical ability. That's what you want from a striker.

"That shows with us he has developed his technique and I think he had a real physical presence. Already last year when I was not completely happy with his performances sometimes, when you spoke to the managers of the other teams, they told me always that their defenders said that he's a handful. When you get these kinds of vibes, you always think there is something to work on.

"With us he has developed his technique and I think he had a real physical presence"

Arsene Wenger

"Maybe he's stimulated by the fact as well that every day you announce a striker somewhere. That has maybe helped him as well."

The boss is pleased with the way his team have responded from the opening-day defeat to Aston Villa.

"We [were] backs against the wall and absolutely had to win after Villa and on top of that, [it was] a very intense derby having played very difficult games in the last two weeks," Wenger said. "I thought before the game that if we had not made the difference, the last 20 minutes could be difficult. They were but we have shown another aspect of our team - commitment, resilience, desire to defend together and that was fantastic as well. It's quality that will be needed.

"What pleased me is that we have shown that resilience. What pleased me as well was that Giroud had an exceptional performance, looking like really scoring from game to game. Offensively Walcott was dangerous and in midfield, the fact that Flamini [came off the bench] for a first game and did very well. That is of course very positive for us."

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