Olivier Giroud is now on the second longest worst goal drought of any Premier League striker this season, and it will certainly be a cause for concern for both the club and player with the summer transfer window a couple of months away.
Believe it or not, but there are only two other centre-forwards in the Premier League who are on longer barren runs this year than the Frenchman – this being Newcastle’s Siem De Jong (17 games) and Swansea’s Bafatembi Gomis (15).
Despite his assist, Giroud was largely ineffective against Norwich on Saturday and has now gone 801 minutes of Premier League football without finding the back of the net, with his last goal dating back to January 13th against Liverpool at Anfield.
It means the 29-year-old France international has now gone an incredible 15 Premier League games without scoring! To put it into perspective a bit more, this is only four games away to going half a season without netting a goal!
What makes this a cause for concern is not only that the summer transfer window is approaching and some fans are already turning on the Frenchman, but how can you be an Arsenal striker, with the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, among others, who are creating the chances, and not be banging in goals?
Arsene Wenger seems to have faith in Giroud, otherwise he wouldn’t have started him in Arsenal’s last three Premier League games. It is evidently clear, Wenger wants the goal drought to end for his fellow countryman, but is he doing more damage than he is good?
With Giroud not finding the back of the net in 15 games, Wenger is unintentionally showing us Arsenal fans that perhaps the former Montpellier forward isn’t the right man to fire us to Premier League glory.
With this in mind, and the end of the season nearing, could this be a sign that Arsenal do indeed need to sign a striker this summer? I believe so.
