Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud defended Mikel Arteta after his spotkick gaffe in their draw with Fulham.

Arteta missed the chance to give Arsenal the three points after his late penalty was saved.

Giroud told arsenal.com: "It's a bad run but I think there is a lot of quality in this team. We will have better days in front of us.

"I think Mikel wanted to score because he made a penalty against us. I think he really wanted to score.

"I was confident. Some guys asked me why I didn't take the ball but before the game the boss [has] a penalty list. It's very difficult because Mikel was under pressure because it's the last minute. It's not very easy to shoot a penalty."