Giroud ready to bide his time in bid to seize opportunity

REUTERS - Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud says he is prepared to wait patiently for his opportunities as he bids recapture a spot in Arsene Wenger's starting line-up after losing his place while recovering from injury.

Winger Alexis Sanchez has shone in the central striker's role during Giroud's absence with a toe injury and has scored eight goals in 13 appearances this season.

Frenchman Giroud, however, gave a reminder of his own goalscoring prowess when he came off the bench to notch a match-winning brace in Saturday's Premier League victory over Sunderland.

"It's good to be back in contention," the 30-year-old Giroud told British media. "In every big club you have a lot of good strikers with different qualities and the team has been doing very well since the start of the season.

"I've hoped to come back in and I've worked hard in training to do so but I'm happy as long as the team are winning and I've seen we have good cohesion as a side. So I'm not questioning myself too much about my place.

"I just need to play more and keep training well and show I'm in good form. That's what I always try and bring to the team... I'm just concentrating on what I have to do on the pitch. My turn will come."

Arsenal travel to face Bulgarian side Ludogorets in the Champions League on Tuesday night before hosting bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the league five days later.

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru)