Gibbs: Giroud is important to Arsenal and Sanchez is world class

Kieran Gibbs hailed the impact of Olivier Giroud following his return and also backed Alexis Sanchez to keep firing for the Gunners after the Chilean’s landmark weekend.

Giroud has yet to win over all of the Arsenal faithful since his arrival from Montpellier in 2012 but the French striker marked his first Premier League outing in a month on Saturday with a double from the bench during the 4-1 win over Sunderland.

Sanchez has been impressing in the central role in Giroud’s absence through injury and the 27-year-old also bagged a brace at the Stadium of Light to take his tally for the club to 50.

Gibbs said: “Credit to both of them in their own ways. Olivier’s just come back from injury so he’s come in and shown how important he is for the team.

Olivier Giroud celebrates his first goal against Sunderland on Saturday. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“Alexis obviously deserves everything he gets for the work that he puts in on the pitch and every day in training. He’s a world class striker and with 50 goals for him, you feel like there’s only more to come.

“That (the squad strength) is obviously the difference and I feel that’s been the difference for a few years with the club.

“It’s about a squad game and we need to keep everyone fit, that’s the most important thing because there’s depth and quality in the squad.

“We need to utilise that throughout the season and make sure everyone’s ready because you can be called upon at any time.”