Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger announced during his customary Friday news conference that striker Olivier Giroud is actually ahead of schedule in his recovery from an ankle fracture.  Wenger told reporters, “(He is doing) very well.  He’s three weeks ahead of schedule and I think he will join in normal training after the international break.”  The international break the manager mentioned ends on November 18th.

Giroud last featured for the north London club in an August 23 Premier League match at Everton.  The match against the Toffees ended in a 2-2 draw; however, Giroud struck a goal in the final minute to allow the Gunners to share the points with the Merseyside club.  The goal gave Giroud seven scores over his last 10 total matches played (including international games with France).

With the France international center-forward sidelined for up to four months with the injury, Wenger decided to purchase Danny Welbeck from Manchester United in a £16 million deadline day deal.  Welbeck has played well since making the switch from Manchester to London, scoring five goals in nine total starts for the Gunners (including a Champions League hat-trick against Galatasaray a month ago).

While Welbeck is a very solid option for the Gunners to have (many were shocked to hear that Manchester United sold him to a rival club), and he is superior to Giroud in a few aspects of the game (in particular pace), it’s the Frenchman that should be Wenger’s first choice at center-forward once he is healthy again.

The French striker has separated himself from the England international as of late in both the goal scoring and assisting categories.  The table below lists both Giroud’s and Welbeck’s club statistics since the beginning of the 2013-14 season.

             Olivier Giroud           Danny Welbeck
Total Appearances                     55                     49
Total Goals                     24                     15
Goals Per App.                    .44                    .31
Total Assists                     10                      4
Total Shots                    146                     92
Shots on Target                     52                     37

 

Ultimately, competition should most likely do Giroud a favor.  The 28-year-old featured in 36 (all starts) out of Arsenal’s 38 Premier League matches last season and appeared to look exhausted during some matches at the end of the campaign due to fatigue.  Arsenal’s purchase of Welbeck, along with bringing in both Alexis Sanchez and Joel Campbell to help the front line, certainly has quickly transformed the club’s perceived weakness into a strength.

Although Wenger should rotate his players, as he now has plenty of options up front, starting Giroud (alongside Alexis and Walcott) seemingly gives the Gunners their best chance to score plenty of goals.