• Champions League

Yanga-Mbiwa tipped to 'break' Giroud

ESPN staff
September 18, 2012
Olivier Giroud and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa will not be friends on Tuesday © AFP
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Olivier Giroud returns to Montpellier with Arsenal in the Champions League on Tuesday, three months after leaving the club for the Premier League.

Giroud isn't certain to start at the Stade de la Mosson after being left out of the Arsenal team against Southampton at the weekend, and Montpellier's Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa is certain his former team-mate ''won't score'' if he does feature.

And forward Younes Belhanda believes Yanga-Mbiwa will "break" him. Yanga-Mbiwa, 23, knows Giroud well after they played together for two years, and won the French last season, thanks notably to the 21 goals scored by the French international striker.

Montpellier's captain and full-back, Yanga-Mbiwa is looking forward to the game and hopes to come up against his old friend and Montpellier need a result after winning just one Ligue 1 match this season.

"He is coming back here, we warned him it won't be easy to him, he won't score against us," Yanga-Mbiwa said in the pre-match press conference.

Younes Belhanda added: ''There won't have friends on the ground, it will be fun, Mapou will 'break' him."

Arsene Wenger will make ''one or two changes'' for the game. Giroud came off the bench to replace Lukas Podolski 15 minutes before the end of Saturday's 6-1 win over Southampton and he could yet start in France.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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