Olivier Giroud has walked through the away door at the Emirates before only in his imagination. On Tuesday, Lille’s No. 9 does it for real, and the 40-year-old is not pretending to be unmoved.
“It will be full of emotion. Every time that I go back there, it is a real pleasure,” Giroud said in comments carried by LOSC’s official channels ahead of the Matchday 2 fixture in north London.
Between 2012 and 2018 the France striker made 253 appearances for Arsenal and scored 105 goals, before a January move to Chelsea that he has long framed as a reluctant choice.
“I was really sad to leave the club but I had to make that choice and that was a tough one in my career,” he said of the departure, which he tied to his need for minutes before the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
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A reunion with Arteta
The man in the opposite dugout was once in the next locker. Mikel Arteta played alongside Giroud at Arsenal in the Spaniard’s final years as a midfielder, and the two have not shared a pitch as teammates since.
“It’s amazing to see Mikel Arteta again,” Giroud said in a Lille video released on Monday. “A few years later, he is doing a great job.”
Starting the night on the bench
Lille arrive in London under new head coach Davide Ancelotti, appointed in June in succession to Bruno Génésio. Reports in France suggest Giroud will start the game on the bench, with Japan striker Ayase Ueda preferred through the middle.
“Yes, I want to play against Arsenal,” Giroud told French Football Weekly. “The coach keeps saying that we can both play but in the last three matches, I sat on the bench.”
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Giroud has indicated this will most probably be his last season as a professional, which gives Tuesday’s trip the air of a one-off.
Arsenal thinned out in midfield and defence
Arteta’s problem is at the other end of the squad. Spain midfielder Martín Zubimendi and Ecuador defender Piero Hincapié are both out of the Lille game with ankle injuries picked up in a warm-down session on Saturday, adding two first-choice names to an already stretched list.
Arsenal go in with three points from Matchday 1 after a 1-0 win at Napoli; Lille, drawn against last season’s Champions League finalists Real Betis on the opening matchday, are chasing their first points of the league phase.
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