'How have we let him go?' Joe Cole reacts as £18m ex-Arsenal player blows away team

Olivier Giroud of Chelsea celebrates after he scores a goal to make it 4-0 during the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Everton FC at Stamford Bridge on March 08, 2020 in London,… (Robin Jones/Getty Images)

Arsenal could probably do with Olivier Giroud at the moment.

The France international scored all four goals last night as Chelsea thumped Sevilla in the Champions League.

Giroud, who left Arsenal for the Blues in an £18 million deal almost three years ago, scored two with his left foot – including a penalty – one with his right and a brilliant header in what was a perfect hat-trick for the World Cup winner.

In doing so, the 34-year-old now has five Champions League goals this season – six in all competitions.

To put that into context, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette have a combined six goals all season, across all tournaments.

Arsenal are struggling in a major way in front of goal this season.

And former Chelsea star Joe Cole has said on BT Sport that those at the Emirates Stadium should be questioning why he was let go.

He said: “If you are an Arsenal fan sitting at home, you will be thinking ‘how have we let him go?’ Faultless, flawless. We had a lovely montage of him playing but he has gobbled it up with all his goals, we can only show his goals!”

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Is Giroud a better goalscorer than Aubameyang? In a word, no. He might, however, he a better one than Lacazette.

The reason why Giroud chose to leave Arsenal – who hadn’t signed Aubameyang at that point – was because Lacazette was playing ahead of him every week, after joining in a £52 million deal the previous summer.

And looking back, Arsene Wenger probably spent huge money on a downgrade.