Olivier
Giroud finished the year with the best strike rate of any player in the
Premier League, just ahead of Sergio Aguero and Mohamed Salah. Include his
Champions League goals this season – he netted four away to Sevilla – and
the record is even better.
"I am told it is a goal every 63 minutes this season," Giroud tells
Sky
Sports. "Obviously, I am very happy with these numbers. I am the
happiest man when I am on the pitch."
At 34, Giroud's form has not wavered. The goals keep coming as he continues
to hone his craft. He is the master of the one-touch finish, the king of the
near-post run that every defender in the Premier League should know is
coming but still struggles to stop.
There have been two of those in his last two games for Chelsea - a volley at
Wolves from Ben Chilwell's left-wing cross and a header against Aston Villa
after a ball in from the same player.
Does he worry that his trademark movement, darting in front of defenders,
will be the talk of the opposition dressing room before the game? Surely
Manchester City will know exactly what to expect if he makes it onto the
pitch at Stamford Bridge this coming Sunday?
"Everyone knows the quality of Kevin De Bruyne's passing at Manchester City
but still he is assisting again and again," explains Giroud, laughing. "I
believe it is one thing to be aware of the quality of the opposition player
but to be able to stop it is another thing."
Giroud is showing no signs of slowing down, although in his case that is
hardly the point. "My main strength has never been my pace," he admits. As
long as he can find enough space to get a body part to the ball ahead of his
marker, he will keep scoring his goals.
In this exclusive interview with Sky Sports examining why he is able to
score more regularly than anyone else, there is the briefest of attempts to
explain away his success as a sixth sense. "It is something you have or you
don't," he begins. "A striker can sniff things."
But before too long he changes tack. "I am not going to tell you everything
because it will be easy to read me," he says. But it is not all about
instinct, it is a skill that he has learned. Being in the right place at the
right time is an easy line, but it all comes down to hard work.
"As a striker, if you want to get free from the defender, you have to make a
first run and then after that another run. You feint to go to the far post
but end up going to the first post. It is all about that movement to get
free from your defender to receive the ball.
"It is not random. There is nothing random when you score goals. Never. It
cannot be that you are just lucky. You are relentless and resilient. You
always keep believing. That is one of the main qualities of a striker. You
never stop and you always believe that you are going to score even if you
miss the first one or the second one."
Giroud's movement is unusual because other strikers with his aerial ability
would choose to pull away to the far post instead. He prefers the near-post
run and here he explains why.
"Of course, there are certain situations in a game where you do have to go
to the far post because there is congestion at the first post. It does
depend on the situation.
"But as a striker, as a No 9, you sometimes have to make the run just to
move the defender to free the space up behind you for another player. When
the cross comes to the first post and you are ahead of the defender you are
there to finish and you can surprise the 'keeper. That is why I like to do
this movement. I work on it a lot in training."
What
are the instructions to the crosser? "I ask my full-backs and wingers to
cross the ball early and not wait too much. You do not need to go to the
goal-line before you cross."
And is it easier to find the net when the cross comes in from the left wing
or the right wing? "It is true that maybe I am more comfortable heading the
ball when it comes from the left."
Even so, 10 of his Chelsea goals have come from right-wing crosses compared
to 12 from the left. As well as the headers, there are the angled volleys
and the deft flicks. No fewer than 31 of his 37 goals for Chelsea have come
from first-time finishes. It is tough to stop.
It is also an indication of his impressive technique. There are those
strikers who are able to run through on goal from deep. They have time to
set the ball to make the chance easier.
Not Giroud. His one-touch finishes mean he is often dealing with deliveries
that come at him from awkward angles. He is regularly having to contort his
body to manipulate the ball - most famously when scoring his scorpion kick
for Arsenal against Crystal Palace.
"It is true that it is very rare that I am in the position of facing the
goal and I can just go for a shot with a few touches. I have done it a few
times when I am in this position, I can remember a few. But most of the time
I have my back to the goal and I am trying to set others up with a one-two.
I used to do that a lot with Eden Hazard, for example.
"My type of game is more to set up the others and just being alive in the
box and ready to finish well. It is something I practise a lot, I try to be
quick in the box and finish as quickly as I can. Although, to be honest with
you, I never really practised the scorpion kick.
"But when you are in the penalty box, you always know that you do not have
much time to finish. There is always going to be a defender nearby so you
have a better chance of scoring when you shoot with your first touch. That
is why I try to work on it every day in training."
"I still think that I go sometimes too early to the front post which gives
me not a very good angle to finish. But sometimes I am forced to because the
defender is defending well.
"It is all about your quality and your talent. I have been doing this all my
career and that is thanks to the work that I have done in training and the
quality of my finishing. I try to maintain the quality. My strength is the
way I head the ball and finish. I try to keep that up."
His record speaks for itself and while Frank Lampard continues to rotate his
strikers - Giroud has been an unused substitute in two of Chelsea's last
three games - it is no surprise that the manager regularly finds himself
returning to one of the most reliable goalscorers around.
With his contract up in the summer, what does the future hold? For now, this
World Cup winner is not looking too far ahead as Chelsea chase trophies in
three different competitions.
"We will see what happens in the next few months but I just want to keep my
efficiency high. When I am not on the pitch, I just try to be a part of the
team. I really want the best for this team and I really believe we have a
big opportunity to win something at Chelsea with this great squad. I will
just carry on like this and try to keep it up."
By now, nobody should expect anything else.
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