Olivier Giroud underscored his status as one of the Premier League’s elite bench-warmers to open another can of worms. Should he start for Arsenal? The Frenchman’s exquisitely directed equaliser from Alexis Sánchez’s cross saved face and saved Arsenal from themselves. Yet having stated that Giroud was an “important” player and so would not be leaving, Arsène Wenger laid bare the mental fragility at the other end. “I felt the Man Utd game played a big part in the heads of our defenders,” he said in reference to last week’s 3-1 humbling.

Source: The Times December 11, 2017 00:02 UTC