The Gunners forward has been involved only fleetingly so far this season.
Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud says he will fight for his place in the team, following an uncertain start to the current Premier League campaign in North London.
The Frenchman told French publication L’Equipe, via the London Evening Standard, that he saw his immediate future with the Gunners and stated that he would ‘find [his] place’.
After Giroud was given an extended rest period after reaching the final of Euro 2016 with his country, the 30-year-old has suffered both injury absence and having to play second fiddle to Alexis Sánchez up front.
The Arsenal number 9 however has vowed to win back his place in the starting XI, saying he feels good at the club and has not yet knocked on Arsene Wenger’s door to express his concerns.
Giroud said: “I see my future at Arsenal for another two or three years, the date my contract ends. I feel good here and I want to play at the highest level for as long as possible.
“I still feel I’ve got the gas to do it. After, for sure I’d prefer to be playing, but it will be for me to find my place.
“I have not knocked on Arsene’s office. We’ll see, I’m not worried, my time will come.”
As the form of both Sanchez and Alex Iwobi has seen Arsenal go unbeaten since their opening day defeat to Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium, Giroud has found it tough going to break back into Wenger’s starting XI.
Iwobi has started the last seven league games in a left-wing berth, with Sanchez pushed further forward.
With Giroud previously absent and with Danny Welbeck out until the New Year – and despite reservations from some quarters – Sanchez has shown some the finest traits of a number nine, both in front of goal and aerially.
The former Udinese and Barcelona forward has scored eight times so far this term. The Chilean’s pace has added an extra dimension to the North Londoners’ attack this season.
Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud scores their first goal
Despite a brace versus Sunderland a fortnight ago, with Arsenal now 11 league games without a loss it has become tough for the Gunners’ boss to re-install his compatriot striker from a starting viewpoint.
Since Olivier Giroud’s switch from then French champions Montpellier, the Frenchman has scored 59 goals in 138 appearances. In all four seasons in England, he has reach double figures in each campaign.
The Frenchman also spoke of his dismay in not starting versus French champions Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League, back in September.
“I thought I would start because the coach had put me on the bench against Southampton, three days before,” Giroud stated. “But no.”
He adds, “It is in that moment, on the morning of the match in Paris, that I had a discussion with him. He said that I was close to returning. Frankly, I was hurt, disappointed.”
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