Vermaelen: Giroud will find net soon

Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen has backed Olivier Giroud to score his first goal for the club soon, and praised his overall influence on the side.

Vermaelen was made skipper following the departure of Robin van Persie to Manchester United, and he feels his new team-mate has been unfairly criticised after a difficult start to his Premier League career.

“I’m convinced Olivier will be off the mark soon. It’s not as if he has had an easy start – he didn’t get much time against Sunderland, and then played in two tough away games,” Vermaelen told Arsenal’s website.

“He won a lot of duels in those matches, and it’s a vital quality when you’re away from home – if we don’t see a solution, we can sometimes play a longer ball to him in the knowledge that he works hard and is strong in the air.

“He’s made some good runs and has been a bit unfortunate not to score so far, but he’s got into the positions so I’m not worried about him at all. The goals will come.”

Vermaelen has been a part of the Arsenal back four which so far is yet to concede a goal in the Premier League and the Belgium international insisted this is down to the efforts of the entire team and not just the defence.

“I think you can see, particularly from the away games at Stoke and Liverpool, that the whole team – not just the defence, but every area – is working really hard at shape and organisation,” he said.

“It’s one of the main aspects of football, and we’ve been putting a lot of effort into getting it right.”