Giroud thanks Wenger for keeping his faith in him

Olivier Giroud expressed his gratitude to Arsene Wenger for keeping his faith in him after he scored the opening goal in Arsenal's 2-0 win over Everton on Sunday.

The Frenchman endured a torrid night on Wednesday as the Gunners fell to a 3-1 home defeat to Monaco in the Champions League, and was substituted on the hour mark after missing a host of chances.

However, Giroud retained his place in the starting XI for the Premier League clash and later thanked Wenger for allowing him to answer his critics in style.

"Arsene Wenger gave me the chance to bounce back," he told reporters.

"We wanted to do that together and I think we did well this afternoon. We will take things step by step. We just want to focus on our games, to keep doing what we are doing."

Tomas Rosicky rounded off the win over the Toffees with a late strike and Arsenal currently lie third in the Premier League ahead of their trip to relegation-threatened QPR on Wednesday.