Arsenal’s £28m scapegoat is becoming the new Giroud & it’s not Gyokeres

While it almost wasn’t, it was an excellent weekend for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta.

Before they even kicked a ball, they were handed a massive opportunity in the Premier League title race as Crystal Palace ran out surprising winners against Liverpool.

Then, while they also dropped points for the second week in a row, the Gunners came away from St James’ Park thanks to a late winner from Gabriel Magalhães.

It was a gutsy and seriously impressive performance from Arsenal, and one in which almost everyone played well – including a player who could be looked at as their new Olivier Giroud, and no, we aren’t talking about Viktor Gyokeres.

Olivier Giroud’s Arsenal career

Arsenal signed Giroud from French side Montpellier in the summer of 2012, off the back of a season in which he scored 25 goals and provided 12 assists in 42 games to help them win Ligue 1.

The Frenchman didn’t get off to the smoothest of starts in the capital, as while he ended his first season in red and white with a healthy tally of 17 goals and 11 assists in 47 games, he didn’t open his Premier League account until the seventh game of the season, against West Ham United.

The following season saw the Chambéry-born marksman do even better, scoring 22 goals and providing 11 assists in 51 appearances. Most importantly, two of those assists came in the club’s triumph in the FA Cup final.

However, even though the former Montpellier man was putting up good numbers and would continue to do so, he was also guilty of missing chances, a lot of them.

In fact, stories from as early as 2014 lambasted this perceived lack of clinicality and even claimed that Arsène Wenger would be incapable of winning a league title with him leading the line.

Those criticisms continued over the following years and became impossible to ignore in the 15/16 season, when the club had a chance to win their first title since 2004, but between gameweek 22 and 36, Giroud failed to score a single goal in the competition.

The 30-year-old eventually saw his role in the team diminished when Alexandra Lacazette was signed in the summer of 2017, and then when the club wanted to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang the following winter, he was sold to Chelsea for around £18m to allow the Gabonese star to arrive.

By the time he left the Emirates, Giroud had what most would consider to be an almighty impressive record of 105 goals and 38 assists in 253 appearances, and three FA Cups under his belt.

The international striker was someone who certainly had his faults, but given his impressive record and moments of magic, he was also unfairly made the scapegoat at times.

Interestingly, there is one of Arteta’s signings in this current squad who could perhaps be described as the modern Giroud in that way.

Arsenal’s modern Giroud

The first person that most of you’ll probably be thinking of here is Gyokeres, and while he could eventually fit the bill – should he not start scoring more – he’s not the player in question.

Instead, it’s £28m man Mikel Merino who could be looked at in the same way as the Gunners’ former striker.

The most significant similarity between the pair is that, as things stand, it does feel like the Spaniard has become one of the club’s current scapegoats when things go wrong.

When Arteta’s side loses, drops points, or even plays badly, and the midfielder has played even ten minutes of action, it’s impossible not to see fans and pundits alike slating him online – even when it’s not really his fault.

However, while the former Real Sociedad star certainly has his drawbacks and can sometimes slow down play, especially when starting alongside Declan Rice, he has a fairly impressive record with the North Londoners, and like Giroud, already has some standout moments.

For example, the 6 foot 3 “monster”, as dubbed by analyst Ben Mattinson, has made 51 appearances for the club, totalling 3028 minutes, in which he’s scored ten goals and provided five assists.

That comes out to a goal involvement every 3.4 games, or every 201.86 minutes, which is massively impressive for an eight who has been forced to play up top on a number of occasions.

Moreover, some of his goals have been significant.

Last season, he scored two goals to win the game away to Leicester City, then he scored at home against Real Madrid and provided an assist away at the Bernabéu.

On top of that, it was his sensational header that got the team back on level terms against Newcastle yesterday afternoon.

Had he not been on the pitch at that point, there is a very real chance the Gunners might not have even got one point, let alone three.

Ultimately, like Giroud before him, Merino has come in for plenty of stick since moving to Arsenal and often found himself being the scapegoat.

However, so long as he keeps popping up with big goals, there is a chance he’ll eventually get the credit he deserves.