Giroud up to punish pal Lloris
OLIVIER GIROUD has joined France’s goalscoring greats – and now he is desperate to break his Premier League duck for Chelsea.
The former Arsenal man grabbed a 30th goal for Les Bleus in Paris on Friday night but saw Colombia fight back to win 3-2.
That put him up alongside World Cup legends Just Fontaine and Jean-Pierre Papin, and behind only Zinedine Zidane, David Trezeguet, Michel Platini and Thierry Henry.
But the 31-year-old has still not scored for Chelsea in the top flight after moving to Stamford Bridge to help his World Cup selection chances.
And Giroud is itching to get off the mark against France team-mate Hugo Lloris when Chelsea take on Tottenham at home in a six-pointer next Sunday.
To date his only goal for the Blues came against Hull in the FA Cup.
Unlucky
He said: “I have been trying very hard to do my best for the team at Chelsea, and I feel I have been a bit unlucky in the past few weeks not to have scored already.
“Hopefully I will score my first one against Tottenham and Hugo, and that will help us win a very, very important game.
“I think we still have our destiny in our own hands in terms of the Premier League and getting into the top four.
“But the Spurs game is massive and though Hugo is my colleague for France I would give him a smile if I scored in that one as we really need to win it.
“Obviously I am very proud to have reached the 30 goals for France, and just to be part of that list of the top scorers.
“The names are ones we all knew about growing up, and it is special to have equalled the goals of players like Just Fontaine and Jean-Pierre Papin.
“I feel good and healthy, and it would be great to score some more for France – especially at a World Cup if I am there and I play.”