Giroud treble gets Arsenal to last 16

French football star Olivier Giroud grabbed a superb hat-trick as Arsenal crushed Olympiakos Piraeus 3-0 to book their spot in the Champions League’s last 16.

Arsenal earned their place in the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday with an inspired victory over Olympiacos, pipping the Greek champions to second place in Group F.

Olivier Giroud was the hero for Arsenal, scoring a hat-trick to lead the London club to a 3-0 win and into the knockout phase at Olympiacos’ expense.

Arsenal will be without Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin and Alexis Sanchez from the first team, with Coquelin arguably being the biggest loss from the first team due to how Olympiakos play. Wenger also tells his team’s news site “Mentally, you prepare yourself to adapt to every situation and give the right response to every situation you face”.

“There were many more opportunities, without being as clear-cut or guilt-edged, but when we came back to 1-1, Steven Fletcher had the little tap-in on the far post which would have put us 2-1 up and Duncan had a one-on-one”. When you do that, it creates a positive memory for the rest of the season. Three of those results were reflective of an Arsenal team who had already qualified each time in the Champions League, meaning Arsene Wenger was resting a lot of his key players.

They may end up facing the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in Monday’s draw, but Wenger can take pleasure in a job well done.

However, special mention must go to Joel Campbell who held off three defenders before taking out another two with a cute pass for Giroud’s second goal. I know that there will be a very good atmosphere, the fans are insane and they really support their team right through the full 90 minutes.

Arsenal FC are with six points after five games and are hoping to replace Olympiakos in the second spot of the competition, but only through a dominating performance can they move on to the next round.

But, despite a crippling injury list, Giroud believes Arsenal can do it – and will only have themselves to blame if they fail to progress.

“You don’t need to single Giroud out tonight because he scored the goals”.

“In the Champions League it’s one level up and we need to be all focused”.

“We knew we had to push for the third goal because it’s very unsafe at 2-0, and we had the ideal game”. The hosts usually set up quite defensively when they play, and there is no reason why they shouldn’t tonight, as a draw will be enough to see them through.

They must beat Olympiacos by two goals, or match or better the result from their previous meeting, to seal qualification from their group for the 16th consecutive season.

Campbell opened the scoring in Arsenal’s 3-1 victory over Sunderland on Saturday and is relishing the chance to try and keep Arsenal in Europe’s most prestigious club competition.