Olivier Giroud attributes goal scoring form to Wenger's purchase of strikers

Olivier Giroud has revealed that the signing of Danny Welbeck and Alexis Sanchez in the summer forced him to up his game, the result of which is being reflected in his goals tally this season.

The Frenchman has already scored 13 goals this season in the league, including five in March, for which he was awarded the player of the month award while Arsene Wenger was bestowed with the manager of the month award.

His tally of goals is particularly impressive given that he missed three months of the season through injury and has come back in a crucial time of the season to save Arsenal the blushes in a tight race for a place in the top four.

The striker was questioned for his ability to score in the big games, but he has proved his worth by finding the net against Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City and Everton to name a few.

Wenger will be hoping that Giroud can hold his form against Liverpool in a crunch encounter at the Emirates where anything less than a win will put the race for a top four place wide open yet again.

"When I was injured, I was really happy to see Alexis and Danny sign, because I was telling myself that it would push me to give my best every day. I used to say that football is never lasting so you have to question yourself every week, and that's what I try to do," Giroud told Arsenal's official website.

"We will want to keep the FA Cup. We won it last year and in the Premier League we have a really tough game on Saturday. We need to beat Liverpool to keep them far from us in the Champions League race.

"We will want to finish strongly in third place or second place - it doesn't matter but we want to qualify for the Champions League straight away. Let's focus on our game first and we'll see where that will get us. Hopefully City or Chelsea will miss some steps," he concluded.