Giroud relieved to break Chelsea league duck with late heroics

Olivier Giroud was relieved to get his first Premier League goals for Chelsea after a frustrating few weeks as he netted twice to inspire a comeback in their 3-2 win at Southampton on Saturday.

Chelsea found themselves trailing 2-0 to struggling Saints in the 60th minute, as Dusan Tadic and debutant Jan Bednarek got the goals for the home side.

Giroud was introduced right after Bednarek’s effort and quickly made an impact, scoring his first Premier League goal for the club with an excellent header, before Eden Hazard equalised.

The France striker, who joined from Arsenal in January, then completed the sensational comeback 12 minutes from time, finding the bottom-right corner from 14 yards to secure all three points, and he acknowledged he has been itching to get off the mark.

He told Sky Sports: “Obviously I was waiting for it. I tried so many times to put it in the net and sometimes I didn’t have luck, sometimes I lacked a bit of efficiency.

.@_OlivierGiroud_ #SOUCHE pic.twitter.com/c7Zj7Si8PN

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“When you’re a striker you need to keep going, keep the confidence high, even if I play a little less in the last few weeks.

“I really wanted the team to bounce back in the second half and obviously at the beginning it was not what we expected, but in football you always have the chance to step up and bounce back.

“We’ve shown great character, great team spirit.

“I said when I came on we need to fight until the end, keep believing. I didn’t say we’re going to score, but I believe the first goal we scored put them in a bad position. It was very nice for the team.”