Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud insists competition with Alvaro Morata can be good for both players.

For victory over Southampton, Giroud started the FA Cup semi-final over Alvaro Morata, in part, due to the Spaniard's miss against Burnley on Thursday night and because of the Frenchman's fine form of late.

But the 31-year-old insisted the competition between the two Chelsea strikers is "fair" and necessary to ensure both play to their maximum level.

"Competition is always good, especially for strikers, because you need to keep maximum 100 per cent give your best. It helps to step up and help the team win the games. It's a fair competition," Giroud said.

"We've done well when we played Alvaro when we played Burnley, we've done well with Eden, with Willy, with Pedro, whoever is playing alongside us strikers we always try to combine to do work the boss is expecting us to do."