• Premier League

Giroud sidelined until end of year - Wenger

ESPN staff
August 27, 2014
Olivier Giroud suffered the injury in Arsenal's 2-2 draw at Everton © Getty Images
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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed Olivier Giroud has had surgery on a broken left tibia and will be out of action until at least the end of the year.

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Wenger revealed he would be without Giroud for the next four months or so after his side's 1-0 Champions League play-off second-leg victory against Besiktas on Wednesday.

He told Sky Sports: "Olivier Giroud had surgery today. It went well but he will be out, for maybe top competition, until end of December or beginning of January.

"We will look around but we want quality. We have quality, we have [Theo] Walcott coming back soon, [Lukas] Podolski, [Joel] Campbell, [Yaya] Sanogo. To find players better than we have would be very difficult.

"Any time you have a problem you can't always buy. I bought Sanchez to be a striker, Walcott can be a very good striker, Sanogo is a very good striker, Campbell if you ask him what he is he says a striker. All players of quality."

Wenger previously said he would not panic buy in order to replace Giroud's presence up front. However, former Birmingham striker Nikola Zigic's agent claimed his client had been offered a contract by the Gunners.

Giroud suffered the injury in the dying minutes of Arsenal's 2-2 draw at Everton last Saturday, in which he scored his side's late equaliser.

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