Olivier Giroud has had something of an interesting year. Routinely blamed for Arsenal’s failures, he found himself a boo-boy for some French fans who took to abusing him as an outlet for anger over Karim Benzema’s absence from the Euro 2016 squad.
Support for Giroud among French fans has grown, not least because André-Pierre Gignac failed to show he’s the amber nectar against Switzerland on Sunday.
There has been a genuine concern in France over recent days about Grioud’s fitness, after he pulled out of part of a training session.
French newspaper L’Equipe have an update in their Thursday edition and say that everything is fine. Giroud did have pain but was then ‘manipulated by the physios’ and the massage and stretching seemed to do the trick.
Giroud is now expected to start for France the Republic of Ireland on Sunday, and he’ll hope to keep up with his recent scoring record.
The Arsenal man has 5 goals in his last 6 games for France and scored 4 goals in his club’s final 2 games of the Premier League season.
