Olivier Giroud feels a sense of satisfaction that his beginning to life as an Arsenal has panned out ok.
The French striker arrived in the summer from Montpellier with high expectations after leading his former club to the French Ligue 1 title with a league-leading 21 goals.
Life in North London did not begin as expected with Giroud scoring just one goal in his first seven Premier League appearances but after he opened his account in the Capital One Cup against Coventry City and then netted in the league against West Ham United, things seemed to turn for the good, and he has now scored seven goals in all competitions.
"At the beginning of the season I felt good, but Euro 2012 meant that the preparations had been a bit different for some of us. It meant that I wasn't completely ready for the start of the Premier League and had to work in a different way," Giroud told the official matchday programme for Saturday's meeting with West Bromwich Albion.
"Things improved when I scored my first goal, although I had no doubts that if I worked hard in training I could always score. I felt the support of the fans, my team-mates and the staff here, and that was really important to me.
"Getting off the mark against Coventry was a relief, and scoring at West Ham was another.
"That was really the beginning of my season - my 'good debut' if you like - and it launched things for me. After that I succeeded in playing well, scoring and making assists, and if I look at my ratio of minutes to goals it's pretty good.
"It's been an interesting few months but now I want to do more. I'm an Arsenal player and, rightly, expectations are high." |
