GIROUD’S LOVING IT ...and now the fans love Blues new cult hero too
OLIVIER GIROUD loves the FA Cup – and now Chelsea fans love him.
The former Arsenal striker is fast becoming a cult hero with the Blues after crossing London and was given a standing ovation when he came off after scoring the opener.
It was a stunner too as he showed all the composure and fancy footwork of a lanky Lionel Messi – with better hair – to wriggle free of FOUR Southampton defenders just after half-time.
Giroud has won this trophy three times with Arsenal and came on in the final last season when they beat Chelsea – but Blues fans have forgiven him now.
He has had a hand in 22 goals in his 26 appearances in the competition since he first came to England in 2013, scoring 15 times. No-one has scored more in that time.
Giroud hasn’t set pulses racing much since Chelsea paid £18m for him at the end of a desperate, exhaustive search for a centre forward in January.
He has scored only four goals since then and three of them have now come against Saints, after he came off the bench to spark that 3-2 comeback win at St Mary’s last Saturday.
How Southampton must hate him. Beaten in the League Cup Final here last season it was another tale of Wembley woe for Saints, who also conceded a late Alvaro Morata clincher.
Mark Hughes and his men must now try and pick themselves up for the fight of their lives for Premier League survival.
But for Antonio Conte, it’s a second straight trip to the final, with his old foe Jose Mourinho and Manchester United lying in wait. He may still bow out with some silverware.
Hughes, an FA Cup winner with Chelsea as a player in 1997, made two changes to his struggling side, while Conte made four, going with Giroud up front and Morata on the bench.
And it was the Blues who made the better start, with Willian rattling the bar from 16 yards early on before Maya Yoshida robbed Eden Hazard with a goal-saving tackle.
For a while it was all Chelsea but they didn’t have a single shot on target until 30 seconds into the second half, when Giroud struck.
It was Cesar Azpilicueta’s long ball forward and Hazard who got it down and nudged it into the Frenchman’s path. But despite still having