Giroud – ‘I was a bit lucky’ with scorpion goal

Arsenal have won more points (7) with goals in the final five minutes of matches than any other team in the league. “People come to the games to see this kind of goals”. Now in training he starts to score goals. Meanwhile, at Selhurst Park it was Arsenal that prevailed thanks to an Olivier Giroud goal and an own goal from Damien Delaney. I think the Eagles’ improvement will be a gradual process, and all their players will get feedback from their manager along the way.

The effort was similar to a goal scored recently by Manchester United’s Mkhitaryan and Giroud admits the Red Devil may have inspired him. “What we do when we play the teams in the bottom half of the league will be the defining reason of whether or not we get out of the bottom half”, the former England manager said.

Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud and Crystal Palace’s James Tomkins battle for the ball.

“It will be remembered”, Wenger said again. None more so than the (Giroud) goal. That one was incredible, but this is frightening. The move from start to finish was superb, and the Frenchman’s reflexes fired them ahead at the ideal moment.

‘Olivier Giroud’s scorpion kick against Crystal Palace is the best improvised goal I have ever seen, ‘ Redknapp wrote in the Daily Mail. “The ball was behind me and I tried to hit it with a back heel”.

With the height and power of Palace at the back, shipping goals has been a common theme for the Selhurst Park outfit so far this season, which is why they are struggling at the wrong end of the table.

“Giroud transformed that goal, I would say, into art”, Wenger said. You give them a chance and they don’t need to go through the loan step because they have been given an acceleration to the first team.

The loss means Allardyce has taken one point from his first two matches since succeeding Alan Pardew in the Palace hot-seat and continued his wretched run at Arsenal, where he has never tasted victory in the Premier League.

Back-to-back victories and clean sheets, after back-to-back defeats have lifted them back into the top four – into third – having been temporarily dislodged prior to kick-off by Tottenham Hotspur’s 4-1 win at Watford.