Giroud an outsider for top scorer based on pre-season goals
Published:Arsenal may have been heavily linked with Luis Suarez and Gonzalo Higuain to name a few strikers this summer, but if pre-season is anything to go by, they already have a forward at their disposal capable of banging in the goals.
Olivier Giroud may not have received too many plaudits last season, but it should not be forgotten that he scored 11 goals in his debut Premier League campaign, from just 24 starts.
The goals have continued to flow in pre-season for the Frenchman, as he has found the net six times already in just 67 minutes on the field and as a result 40/1 could prove a big price that he ends the campaign as the Premier League’s top scorer.
In Giroud’s favour is that in each of the last 13 seasons, only Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United have provided the Premier League’s top scorer, while there has been no English winner in the same timeframe.
What should be remembered is that Luis Suarez only managed 11 goals in his first Premier League season before going onto help himself to 23 in his second campaign.
Meanwhile, the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba were hardly prolific in their maiden Premier League seasons, but after a period of settling in, they went on to scoop top-scorer honours.
Furthermore, Giroud scored 21 league goals in a season for Montpellier before signing for the Gunners so he has the capacity to be a prolific scorer in his locker, even if this league was slightly easier.
As things stand, Giroud is not even the sole shortest-priced option at Arsenal to be the top Premier League scorer this season, with Theo Walcott also offered at 40/1 in this market.
This is compared to Manchester City, who have four players at shorter odds, while Manchester United and Liverpool have two each.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
