Olivier Giroud reveals playing for France helped him to forget Arsenal title heartache
'France helped me bounce back when it was getting difficult with Arsenal, ' says player who had 15-match goal drought
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OLIVIER GIROUD has lifted the lid on a topsy-turvy season at Arsenal that ended with a failed title bid and a 15-match personal goal drought.
He says that playing for France helped him through the tough times when the Premier League goals just wouldn’t go in.
Many believed that Arsene Wenger’s side would end their 12-year wait for a domestic crown given the faltering form of Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United.
But up popped Leicester City to transform the championship, while the Gunners were off the boil too often to launch a consistent title challenge.
Arsenal finished second to The Foxes and beat arch rivals Tottenham into third place but the truth was Giroud and his teammates slipped out of contention long before the end of the season.
The 29-year-old striker was a target for many critics, both from within and outside of the Emirates, as he endured a 15-game goal drought and lost his first team place.
But turning out for France offered the best tonic to get over a disappointing campaign.
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Explained Giroud: “We thought this was going to be our year when we beat Leicester at home.
“Unfortunately we dropped points at the Emirates against the supposedly lesser teams. Starting games with the French national team helped me bounce back when it was getting difficult with Arsenal.”
Giroud scored twice in the 3-0 win over Scotland on Saturday, having found the net in a 3-2 win over Cameroon five days earlier.
Those goals, coupled with a hat-trick in the final league of the season against relegated Aston Villa, almost certainly guaranteed Giroud a starting place in Didier Deschamps’ starting XI for the hosts’ Euro 2016 opener against Romania on Friday.
Premier leaguers Hugo Lloris, Bacary Sagna, Laurent Koscielny, N’Golo Kante and Dimitri Payet are also in contention.
The hosts start the tournament as the bookmakers’ favourites. They also play Albania and Switzerland in Group A.
