Published: 19 February, 2015
by STEVE BARNETT

OLIVIER Giroud says it’s “a pleasure” to play in an Arsenal team boasting such a wealth of attacking options. 

The French striker scored twice in three first-half minutes on Sunday as the Gunners beat Middlesbrough 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium to set-up an FA Cup quarter-final showdown away at Manchester United. 

Giroud, who missed three months of the season with a broken fibula, has been in blistering form since returning at the end of November – banging in seven goals in his last 10 appearances.

“I feel good and my confidence is high,” he told Arsenal Player. “I want to help the team to win more games and to achieve our targets. We have plenty of solutions up front. 

“We are all different, so it’s nice. We can find each other really well on the pitch and what’s most important is to keep this movement and this variation in our game.” 

And Giroud added: “It’s a pleasure to play with the boys and I think we are really strong offensively. We need to continue to do a great job together defensively as a unit – like we showed at Manchester City – especially against the big teams. 

“We need to be focused on our defensive game, because we know that up front we are always going to create chances to score.”