Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud has admitted he is frustrated with his lack of goals since joining from Arsenal in January.
The Frenchman made the switch between London clubs for £18million with hopes to improve his chances of making his country’s World Cup squad this summer.
But the 31-year-old, who has been battling with Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata for the role of first-choice centre forward, has netted just once in eight appearances.
And Giroud, whose sole strike was the fourth in the 4-0 FA Cup victory over Hull over a month ago, believes he has been playing well but must start to add goals to performances.
‘I’m happy with how I’ve adapted, the welcome I got and my relationship with my team-mates,’ he told L’Equipe.
‘But I should have had more goals. I’m very attached to statistics and I remain stuck at one goal and three assists in five starts. It’s clear that’s not enough. But the content of my game is very encouraging.’
‘You have to be demanding of yourself,’ he explained. ‘If I signed for Chelsea, it was to experience a new challenge. I knew there was going to be a lull.
‘When you sign like that in January, it’s never easy because you have to acclimatise yourself to the team.
‘But I wanted to be ready straight away, even though I was coming back from six weeks of injury. It was a little paradoxical.
‘The coach started me in the second game and made me comfortable. It went very well. It’s true I played some poor matches, but the content of my game has been very encouraging.’
OLIVIER GIROUD AT CHELSEA
- Games: 8
- Starts: 2
- Minutes: 292
- Goals: 1
- Assists: 3
