“You consider everybody up front when you don’t score,” Wenger reasoned afterwards. “But first I wanted to try something else. Giroud is a presence on crosses. We need him as well on set-pieces, and when our goalkeeper kicks the ball long. He wins many balls and keeps us in the opposition half.”
Giroud has now gone 15 league matches, or 891 minutes, without a goal, the longest run of his career without troubling the scorers. But Wenger was delighted with his assist. “He is a guy who is mentally strong,” the Arsenal manager said. “Today he gave an assist - I put that in the same category as a goal.”