Olivier Giroud ‘unhappy’ at Chelsea one year on from £18m transfer from Arsenal
France World Cup winner is fed up with warming the bench and could soon be pushed further down the pecking order with Gonzalo Higuain's expected arrival
OLIVIER GIROUD has sensationally revealed he is not happy at Chelsea.
The France World Cup winner has started just six Premier League games this season despite Alvaro Morata's poor form in front of goal.
Maurizio Sarri has opted to play winger Eden Hazard as a false nine and is hell-bent on signing Gonzalo Higuain to fix his striker woes.
In an explosive interview with , Giroud said: "It's not me who decides the team, making the starting XI, but obviously every single player wants to play every single game.
"As a competitor obviously I can't be happy to stay on the bench, but I keep that frustration with me and try to transform it to positive energy to work hard in training.
"It's true that every time I play from the start I try to bring something to the team, to play my part.
"But in these 14 games I started maybe only half of them, so it's a bit difficult to be consistent in this case.
"You need to play a few games in a row to be competitive, so that's what's a bit difficult in this last month."
Giroud, 32, left Arsenal last January to join London rivals Chelsea in an £18million deal in a bid to play more football.
He scored three goals in 13 appearances under former boss Antonio Conte and led the line in the FA Cup final win over Manchester United.
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But Giroud says Sarri's summer arrival has knocked him back to square one.
He said: "The first six months [at Chelsea] were very good for me. I needed to leave Arsenal because of the fact that Arsene Wenger wanted to play with a different kind of striker.
"I settled really well - it's like I was part of this Chelsea team for a long time. I felt very good, with a good understanding with the players. We won the FA Cup and I played a few games, and then I had the opportunity to go to the World Cup. It was very good for me.
"Then after, when I came back late from the World Cup, it was a bit different because the new manager came and you have to start again, prove to him that you are ready to play in this team.
"It has been a little bit difficult for me to be honest, this last month, but I will keep fighting to play in this team."
Giroud returns to the Emirates for the first time tomorrow with Chelsea in what could prove a crucial game in the race for the top-four.
He said: "It's going to be a special moment for me, the first time I'll be back at the Emirates since I moved to Chelsea, so I'm looking forward to this game.
"We need the win to keep them away from us. There's an opportunity to put them nine points behind us, but in a personal way it's going to be a special moment."