Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud enjoying assists as much as goals thanks to his high quality team-mates
Giroud claims it is a pleasure to play with the likes of Ozil, Wilshere, Cazorla and Rosicky and that is has taught him to be less greedy when in attack
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud insists he does not have to be so greedy in front of goal when he is surrounded by so many high quality team-mates.
The France international has scored eight goals this season but has also provided four assists, already more than last year.
Giroud dismissed the notion that centre-forwards have to be single-minded to succeed.
"It is a quality when you are a striker to not always be greedy and when you have a team-mate well placed on the pitch, in a good position, you have to assist him," he said.
"Strikers are judged on their goals but we must also (provide) assists and that is what I try to do: help my team-mates.
"It is easy to play with people like Jack (Wilshere), Mesut (Ozil), Santi (Cazorla) or Tomas (Rosicky) - all my offensive team-mates.
"We have good relationships on the pitch and when we play one-touch football it is a pleasure.
"We try to do it in every game and when we succeed it is fantastic."
Giroud scored 17 goals in his first campaign with the Gunners but at this stage of last season he had only three goals as he took a while to settle in.
There has been no such issue this time around and the 27-year-old puts that mainly down to improved confidence, although manager Arsene Wenger believes he has become a better player over the last 12 months.
"I think technically I had it before, maybe I progressed because we have worked on it a lot in training," he told arsenal.com.
"It is also [down to] confidence. I did well from the start of the season.
"I had good preparation with the team - instead of last season when I wasn't here from the beginning - and I scored early in the pre-season games.
"I feel really confident, the boss made me feel good and that is why I feel good and try to improve every day. It is all about confidence I think."
Premier League leaders Arsenal host Liverpool, just two points behind in third, in the match of the weekend.
While the Reds have had a full week to prepare after a confident demolition of West Brom last Saturday, Wenger's players have had to pick themselves up from the midweek Capital One Cup defeat at home to Chelsea.
Defender Thomas Vermaelen believes the visit of Brendan Rodgers' side provides the ideal opportunity to get over that loss.
"It is for the league and we need to respond quickly," he said.
"It's good the game is on Saturday and we can respond to the defeat from Tuesday night."
PA
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