Vermaelen backs Giroud to get off the mark for Arsenal soon

Sep 14, 2012 7:50:00 PM

The Gunners' captain is confident the Frenchman can open his goalscoring account for the club after failing to find the back of the net in his first three outings

Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen has backed Olivier Giroud to get off the mark for the club soon, while also praising his overall contribution to the side.

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

He told the Gunners' official website: "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.

"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 single goal in the Premier League and the Belgium international insists 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 added.

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

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