Olivier Giroud allays injury worries and wants Arsenal striker position back

Olivier Giroud has revealed that he has completely recovered from the toe injury that kept him out of contention from the Arsenal eleven following the Euros and he is ready to help the Gunners challenge for the title. The Frenchman came from the bench to score two goals with his opening two touches against Sunderland to lead them to a 4-1 win and a joint top position with Manchester City and Liverpool.

Alexis Sanchez has been the mainstay up front for the north London club, with the Chilean scoring six goals in the league thus far, but Giroud's arrival will give Arsene Wenger a different option from the bench or from the start. The 30-year-old is expected to start when the Gunners take on Bulgarian side Ludogorets in the group stages of the Champions League, having been sent off against Paris Saint-Germain on Matchday one.

"I feel good on the pitch you know, my injury is now behind me and I want to work now. I want to focus on the next stage of the Champions League and another big game on Sunday. I'm just concentrating on what I have to do on the pitch and my time will come," Giroud told Arsenal's official website.

The striker, who went to the Euros as the first choice centre-forward for France, insists that he is not affected by the options available for Wenger, and believes that every top team in the league have multiple players to help them in need. Lucas Perez, who signed from Deportivo La Coruna last summer, is currently out injured and will only be back in December, while Theo Walcott has not travelled with the squad to Bulgaria.

"In every big club you have a lot of good strikers with different qualities," Giroud added, "We can play together, we can play as lone strikers and we can play up front with each other as well. The team has played very well at the start of the season but it's cyclic and I hope to come back by working hard in training. I'm happy as long as we win. We have a very good team cohesion and I'm not questioning myself too much. I'm just focused on the team."