Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger hails Olivier Giroud form

The 29-year-old scored a hat-trick in Wednesday’s 3-0 win at Olympiakos which sealed the Gunners’ place in the last 16 for the 16th consecutive season. You’re not going to go through the whole season without getting injuries.

The France striker gave Arsenal a first-half lead at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus before netting twice more, the third coming from the penalty spot, to ensure Arsene Wenger’s side reached the last 16 of the competition for the 16th year in a row.

“I think I will have to do that again because it is so demanding now and he has a game that demands a lot of energy, that sometimes you need a breather in that squad”.

Greeks started the game brighter with few chances at in the first 15 minutes but they couldn’t take advantage of them and Petr Cech saved every shot they had. Flamini, who has also been a regular fixture in the starting lineup since the injury to Francis Coquelin, feels that Giroud’s omission from the starting XI midway through the season has spurred him to work harder and perform at his optimum level.

Wenger also refuted newspaper claims he was set to launch a January move for Southampton midfielder Victor Wanyama, despite the fact he now has four players in that position out injured – saying: “I rate the player but we are not on the case”.

He said: “The sort of attitude we had in the dressing room was “never give up”.

“That is the spirit we want in this team”. “But in the second half, we played with more freedom, fluency and incisiveness which is how we won the game”. We needed a ideal performance, to score without conceding, and it wasn’t easy because Olympiakos are a good side.

Bayern Munich are laughing all the way to the bank after making 25 million euros ($27.35m) so far following the best Champions League group stage campaign in the club’s history.

“He always wants to improve, he has a positive, strong mentality and he’s come back in a very strong way”.

Wales worldwide Ramsey is in for an exciting weekend as Arsenal’s trip to Aston Villa on Sunday is sandwiched between Saturday’s draw for the European Championships and the Champions League draw on Monday. “But they’re there or thereabouts”, said John. It was a great performance from him and he helped the team very much.

“On our day I believe we can beat anybody and teams will try and avoid us”.