Olivier Giroud : I am lucky to have great players around me

“I’m not superstitious,”

“I started this game like normal and I am lucky to have great players around me who know me very well, so I try to put it in the net and that’s all I want.”

“I got a bit lucky for the first one but I anticipated Danny’s deflection and for the second one, Santi knew where to put the ball and I tried to win my duel.”

“It’s nice for the team because we are on a really good run, even if we were disappointed about the Champions League - we want to finish really strongly and finish in the best position by winning every single game.”

“There’s still eight games to play so we need to focus on our games and step by step we’re going to see. First we need to win every single game and then after we need to see if City or Chelsea miss one of these steps.”

“You never know, you have to believe in football and that’s why we want to win every single game.”

Arsenal.com

Arsene Wenger : The Desire is There, the Belief is There

Champions League Preview :
Arsene Wenger Interview

About Stats : No team has turned around a two-goal deficit in the away leg of a Champions League tie

"The statistics don’t matter," he said. "They are against us. The result from the first leg is against us, we’re conscious of that.

"But no matter how big the percentage is, we are going to give absolutely everything to make the stats lie. That’s our desire and that’s our belief we can do it."

About Olivier Giroud

"He owes a great performance for himself as all the greatest strikers want to do as well as possible on the pitch,"

"He missed a few opportunities in the first leg but what striker doesn't miss an opportunity?

"I really think he is at the international level. I believe this. He has the right mental level. We have to trust the people who play at this kind of level.

"We will need to be really creative up front in order to create some opportunities,"

"We had a lot of chances in the first leg actually, more than people said. It is true that Giroud didn't manage to convert. But now he is in better condition. He got over the disappointment of the first leg and will do everything to be at the top level."

About his comeback to Monaco

"For me, it is very special moment,"

"I was a young coach here at Monaco… I have a lot of respect for Monaco and I want to thank the whole club."

"Tomorrow will be a Champions League game, and the experience I have gained can help me to make the right decision," he added. "I am able to separate the emotion of coming back and the importance of the game. I am here for work and my job is for my club to win."

About France

 "It is a bit of a concern if it rains a bit but I just went up there and it’s good, very good," he said.

"When it rains in the south of France, it rains, it doesn’t drizzle. They had to postpone a game recently against Montpellier because of the game but apparently the conditions will not be bad on the rain front."

"The French level is very good," he said. "I always had the highest respect for the French league, because when we play against a French team we always have a mountain to climb as they are physically ready, well organised and I think in France they are up for Europe as well, very focused on it.”

"It is always very difficult to play against French teams. Having said that, our record with Arsenal in France is absolutely outstanding. We have always done well here."

About the Opportunities

"Ideally you want always to score early goals,"

"but I believe you just have to play with full power, not forget your organisation and structure in the team and the goals come when they come. We must focus on the quality of your game on both sides, defensively and offensively. Nobody can predict when the goals will come.”

"You can expect us to show a different side to our game. We totally missed the first leg against Monaco, which was surprising. We did not play well, but sometimes in life if you miss a chance you do not have a second chance, We do, so we will play it fully."

"The desire is there, the belief is there,"

"Football is not predictable but I can predict the desire and belief will be there to do well. We play in the Champions League last 16, we have experience and we know that anything can happen. As long as we believe we can do it, I am confident we will."

arsenal.com

Olivier Giroud : You Need Cold Blood in Front of Goal

“You can always improve yourself but you need to have talent,”
“Talent is not sufficient on its own, though. I always repeat that because it’s important for young players to know it.“
“You need to have something that all strikers have in them. You need to keep lucidity in front of goal and have cold blood, like we say in France, in your veins. You need to be a born striker with a killer instinct.“

“I looked up to Andrey Shevchenko and Jean Pierre Papin [when I was younger]. Eric Cantona as well, but the one who scored so many goals was Titi Henry.“
“He played for my team, Arsenal, so I was impressed by his performances. He has done really well in his career, especially at Arsenal. If I can do half of what he has done I will be happy.”

arsenal.com

Olivier Giroud : About Super Sunday Winning against Man City

“We wanted to win tonight because we always play well against the big four but we haven’t managed to win, so it’s great for us and I think it will be a game to remember,”

“We learnt from our mistakes because we played too much of our own game before. We played well this time because we waited for them and we played well on the counter-attack. Afterwards we scored, tried to keep a clean sheet and we could have scored more goals."

“Defensively we were really compact and we didn’t let them play through the lines. We knew that they liked to play behind our midfielders with David Silva and Sergio Aguero, so we were aware of that and always created chances up front."

“We know we need the momentum to come back into the top four and we are in a good run. We have kept three clean sheets so we need to keep this up. We always create chances to score and hopefully we can continue to do this for the rest of the season.”

arsenal.com

Arsene Wenger : About Injuries in Arsenal & Return of Olivier Giroud

"Ideally you want stability there but as you know we had Koscielny and Debuchy injured for long periods,” he said. "After that, we had Gibbs and Monreal injured as well, so there was a lot of movement in [the defence], which is not ideal."

"I feel [we are getting stronger now]. We could benefit from that because these are players who are not overloaded with games. Some of our players have played 26 or 27 games, whereas some have played four or five. These players coming back can give us some impact for the coming months.”

Giroud’s return after a three-match ban gives Wenger food for thought up front. Alexis Sanchez flourished through the middle last weekend, but the manager says that the France international has the requisite qualities to trouble the more physically imposing of Arsenal’s opponents."

"Our game is a bit more orientated on crosses [when Giroud plays] and sometimes it’s a bit more direct as well because we know we can find him and he can win headers, especially from the goalkeeper,” Wenger said."

"Both options are very interesting and sometimes one is more suited to the game than the other, so Olivier gives us something different. He’s sometimes what makes us a bit more dangerous and gives us a different pattern of play.”