Former Arsenal and France striker Nicolas Anelka has insisted that Olivier Giroud is good enough to fire the Gunners to success.

Giroud's credentials as a title-challenging frontman have been questioned in recent years, and the 28-year-old's unconvincing start to the season saw him dropped in favour of Theo Walcott for Arsenal's last Premier League outing.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger was criticised for not bringing in attacking reinforcements during the transfer window, but Anelka believes that Giroud is good enough to benefit from the quality provided by the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez around him.

"Of course, you can always say when you don't win that it wasn't good enough because the fans want to take the title. But it has become much harder now because you have Man City with big money, Chelsea with big money, Man United, Liverpool," Anelka told The National.

"When I was there it was maybe only United who were very strong. Now you have five teams who can fight for the title. You can always say they need to buy someone up front, but previously they have bought Mesut Ozil, who's a good player, Alexis Sanchez is a good player. They can score goals and give good assists.

"People just want big names in attack, but Giroud is good enough to score goals. And behind him there are big players who can supply him so he can score a lot of goals. Arsenal have a strong squad – people don't see it, but they do."

Giroud has netted 42 goals in 101 Premier League games for the Gunners.