Olivier Giroud is set to return to Arsenal on Tuesday evening as the Gunners entertain French side Lille in the Champions League and he has now spoken out on his spell at the Emirates

Olivier Giroud has revealed that he had to leave Arsenal to secure a place in France’s World Cup squad. The French striker departed the club for Premier League rivals Chelsea in January 2018.

Giroud had scored 105 goals in 253 appearances for the Gunners before that after being signed by Arsene Wenger.

Giroud is set to return to North London this week, with the reigning Premier League champions set to take on his current side Lille in the Champions League. Speaking about his spell with Arsenal, he said: “When I arrive at Arsenal, I improve a lot on my game thanks to the daily basics we were doing in training.

“Working on your technique, your one-touch finishing but also to link up the play, to deflect the play, to play one-touch for your teammates and finish quick in the box.

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“That was a perfect example. I improved a lot in that way, to be the target man, the wall a player can use to use me. I had a very good understanding with the boys back in the day. That was Arsene’s game, quick and smooth. And really enjoyable to watch.

“Obviously now the game is even tighter in the box and teams defend very deep and low. It’s really difficult to do it but I watch a lot of Arsenal now and I see some similarities in their game and they always try to put pace into the game in the last third.

“You don’t want to leave them in any space in the box. That’s a great thing. I can see a lot of similarities [between Wenger’s team and the current side].

Asked why he chose to leave, the now 40-year-old added: “It was part of my career and my time. I had to leave the club in order to play the 2018 World Cup and we know the end of the story.

“I was really sad to leave the club but I had to make that choice and that was a tough one in my career but it was necessary and important for the rest of my career. It’s great to come back at 40 years old with a French club and play against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.”

Meanwhile, Arteta has offered his take on Giroud and has been full of praise. Speaking in his pre-match press conference, he said: “We were teammates.

“First of all, a great character and a great person to have around the dressing room, and then the players. I remember when he came in, he won the Ligue 1 with Montpellier. He came here and he really impacted the team in a very different way, a completely different profile than we were used to. What a career he has had and definitely earned it as well.”

Asked if the striker was underrated, the Arsenal boss added: “Not by his teammates for sure or Arsene [Wenger] in this case. I don't know the rest. But he was extremely intelligent first and he was really, really a handful.

“Every time you had him on the pitch, you had a massive threat inside the box. He was very smart. He was so good at connecting with other players as well and his work rate was phenomenal, so certainly not [underrated] by us.”