“We just said that Olivier Giroud is a great striker, so behind that we can not buy Karim Benzema”, he said.
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The North London outfit traveled to Greece knowing that they would have to do better than Olympiakos’ 3-2 win at the Emirates earlier on in the season but Olivier Giroud gave the Greek champions no chance as his first ever Arsenal hat-trick put them through 3-0.
However, fans and pundits still feel Arsenal need to sign someone better up front, with supporters quick to turn on Giroud when the goals dry up.
The Gunners could draw the Catalans, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid among others in the last-16 after finishing second in Group F on Wednesday with a 3-0 win over Olympiakos.
Arsène Wenger has praised Olivier Giroud for reacting to being criticised and dropped by showing he is “among the best strikers in Europe”.
“We did it, playing some good football. He is a guy who always wants to improve and he has a positive and strong mentality and that is why he has come back so well”.
“It’s the way the set-up is now, even in the Premier League you see every team get much better”.
“Or they can play together well, what I did on Wednesday night, so in some games I will play Olivier and Theo together”.
Arsenal have no fresh injury concerns ahead of Sunday’s Premier League trip to Aston Villa but Mikel Arteta (calf) and Alexis Sanchez (hamstring) are among seven first-team players still unavailable. “I think it is a legal case and as long as it has not been judged, you have to wait for the judgement”, he said.
Wenger has seen his resources stretched through numerous injuries and has been clear that he is looking to strengthen his squad if he can find the right players to sign when the transfer window swings open in less than a month’s time.
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“In my mind I was a little bit more nervous than usual because I felt it was a pivotal game”, he told Arsenal Player.
