'We have the quality to go through the Champions League group stage' - Olivier Giroud

Olivier Giroud celebrates has scored 4 League goals in as many games.

Giroud really is the man of the moment when it comes to strikers in the Premier League. He has four goals in four EPL games this season and one goal in two Champions League games.

Last season he had his doubters but Giroud is showing that he has it all; good pace, excellent link-up, hold up play, great heading, two decent feet, a powerful shot, accurate shots, superb positional awareness, great runs and deft passing. He is, for me, the best lone front-man in the league.

His goal versus Sunderland was a fantastic early shot that shows he has excellent awareness of the players around him and a cool head to shoot early before the keeper has a chance to compose himself.

Giroud has put to bed those “he only scores in London in the BPL” doubts and you have to fancy him to score or assist against Marseille tonight. If he doesn’t score I’m sure he’ll make an assist. His assists for Podolski and Gibbs last season were spectacular and his assist for Ramsey against Sunderland was incredible.

But on to the main event. Here is Olivier Giroud’s exclusive radio interview with RMC translated. Olivier Giroud was Luis Fernandez’ guest this afternoon in the former PSG player’s show on French radio RMC.

When asked how he felt when the fans sang “his” song

It’s a good sign if they sing; it means I’m doing well. I am very happy with the way Arsenal started the season and in particular the way I started.

About Özil and his influence on the team

Yes, it seems he is a good football player [he laughs]. He is a good guy, and is spot-on on in everything he does. He is at ease technically and always plays in a simple but right style. With Özil, football isn’t complicated. I think he showed what he can bring to the team on Saturday.

He is always available and reads the game perfectly, there’s only very few passes wasted. Had Theo been a bit luckier with his finishing, he would’ve finished with three or four assists. He merges well in the team and I’m convinced the team will score even more goals with Mesut.

After being asked how he felt these days

I was able to have a proper pre-season preparation with the team this year, unlike last season where I think I had more pressure on me. Therefore, I am in good shape, I didn’t miss a lot of training sessions, I haven’t been injured and I hope it will continue. My confidence was boosted with the goals I scored in pre-season and then with the ones I scored in Premier League and Champions League.

On Arsenal’s form

Arsenal often struggle to start the year well even before I arrived, we tended to lose points from the beginning. The first game [losing on our debut at the Emirates] put our ideas back in place, we managed to react and showed great mental strength. Since then we are unbeaten and score many goals so it’s all good.

About his goals and what he hopes to achieve

I want to go foot by foot [game by game/day by day] but of course I would like to score more goals than I did last year; hence, more than 17 goals. I will keep the faith especially given that my second seasons in my clubs have always been better than the first. I’m having a ball in this team and I feel really good. I have to keep my focus and try to stay at the top of the goal scorers table, you never know.

Compared to last season, I feel better and better. I have the feeling I am learning things every day, I feel I still have room for improvement. There is a real evolution and I’m entirely committed to my role upfront.”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger talks to Olivier Giroud before a training session

On the team

The quality of the squad is suitable to practice good and fluid football. When you play at Arsenal you automatically have chances [to score]. If you are efficient and not too clumsy, it can turn out well. But I also like playing for the others. I think I showed that again against Sunderland. It’s very positive, the quality in the team is sufficient.

On Arsenal’s squad depth

I’m a bit scared, we already have a couple of players aside. Squad problems occurred to us but despite that we will try and compete with the top teams this year.

On the Champions League and Marseille

We have to take a good a start, we’re going to Marseille to do our best and have a big game. It is going to be a great atmosphere. We became footballers to play that sort of games. I look forward to playing against those teams. It is going to be a very tough group but we have enough quality to go through.

We owe full respect to Marseille, they have had a good start to the season, we definitely can’t underestimate them. They are many international players among the squad. I’ll make sure my teammates behave in a good way because the atmosphere is going to be excellent and the players will want to show their best in front of their fans. There is a lot of quality in the squad, I know them well and I will try to advise my mates.

On which Marseille player he feared the most

I scored a couple of goals past Mandanda, I hope that will continue but the strong link is Mathieu (Valbuena) because he is the playmaker, he is very quick and technical. He provides good opportunities to Dimitri (Payet) or Gignac. I hope Gignac will have a bad day and won’t be as efficient as he usually is (laughing).

On Arsenal in the Champions League in the past years and if they can win a title this year

Of course, we’d like to win the title, but there are many top teams with huge means in the Premier League. Last year (in the Champions League) we didn’t have a bad round, we beat the future winners on the road and weren’t far from qualifying. I think we had a bad start and then after that we tried to compensate all year.

We were attacked by media and I do want to believe it wasn’t always justifiable and that is why we wanted to start in the best direction possible – avoiding losing distance and keeping our chances as high as possible. I think we have the quality to go through the group stage but thinking of winning the Champions League is a bit too presumptuous because they are many excellent teams out there.

On Arsène Wenger

I can see Wenger continuing with Arsenal especially if we finish in the top 3-4 this year and do good things in the Champions League, why not? He’s building a very coherent team and we managed to keep our best players this summer and bought one tremendous one. At the moment, we have a lot of injured players but I think the team can do some great things overall.