Olivier Giroud happy to bounce back with a goal

Olivier Giroud has admitted that he is grateful to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger for giving him the chance to bounce back from his midweek disappointment.

The Gunners striker produced an underwhelming display in Wednesday night's 3-1 defeat against Monaco, a performance which was capped by a poor miss when his side were desperate to break the deadlock, but he was selected in the starting lineup against Everton this afternoon and responded with a goal.

His strike shortly before half time put Arsenal on their way against the Toffees, with Tomas Rosicky's deflected effort in the second half wrapping up a 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium.

Speaking after the game, the Frenchman is quoted by BBC Sport as saying: "Arsene Wenger gave me the possibility to bounce back. We wanted to do that together and I think we did well this afternoon.

"We started on the front foot and pressed them high. We will take things step by step. We just want to focus on our games, we just need to keep doing what we are doing."

Arsenal are now back up to third place in the Premier League table, sitting three points clear of Liverpool who are fast closing in on a Champions League qualification berth following their triumph over Manchester City.