(All numbers are for league matches only, unless otherwise noted or common sense dictates)

192 – Olivier Giroud height in centimeters (according to all sources)

88 – Olivier Giroud weight in kilograms (according to most sources)

92 – Olivier Giroud weight in kilograms according to l’Equipe

201 – Peter Crouch height in centimeters

75 – Peter Crouch weight in kilograms

193 – Andy Carroll height in centimeters

79 – Andy Carroll weight in kilograms

3.7 – Olivier Giroud aerial duels won per game*

4.5 – Peter Crouch aerial duels won per game**

10 – Rank of Olivier Giroud among all players in the top five leagues in aerial duels won per game

21 – Goals scored by Olivier Giroud in Ligue un last season*

15 – Rank of Olivier Giroud among all players in the top five leagues in goals scored

6.9 – Shots per game by Christiano Ronaldo**

4.7 – Shots per game by Robin van Persie*

4.5 – Shots per game by Olivier Giroud*

7 – Rank of Olivier Giroud among all players in the top five leagues in shots per game

174 – Total shots by Robin van Persie*

82 – Shots on goal

30 – Goals scored*

47 – Percent of Robin van Persie’s shots that were shots on goal

37 – Percent of Robin van Persie’s shots on goal that he scored

161 – Total shots by Olivier Giroud*

70 – Shots on goal

21 – Goals scored*

43 – Percent of Olivier Giroud’s shots that were shots on goal

30 – Percent of Olivier Giroud’s shots on goal that he scored

What you see in Giroud’s numbers is a player who is an aerially dominant target man. He wins a great percentage of his aerial duels in France at 70%. That’s the same kind of aerial duel percentage that you normally associate with a dominant defender and as you can see is 6% better than Crouch (who is 4″ taller than Giroud). The good news is that Giroud has gotten better at the aerial game as you can see from last season. Chamakh, when he came to Arsenal, had two seasons at 47% aerial duels and continued that percentage at Arsenal. Another wrinkle in the fact that Giroud is so good in the air is that Arsenal often used Robin van Persie on defensive set plays to win headers, sliding Giroud back there could free Robin up to be a counter attacking threat.

The one thing that might frustrate fans (and the player) is that Giroud requires a lot of shots to score goals, in fact, the same number as Chamakh. But that might work in Arsenal’s favor as he is going to get a lot of crosses from the Arsenal fullbacks, he’s going to get a lot of shots off corners and set plays, and if you notice that Robin van Persie averages 2.4 key passes per game (plus he had 9 assists) you could see Robin drop slightly deeper and become more of a distributor as Lord Bergkamp suggested would be his best role.

Regardless, if Arsenal do manage to sign Giroud it signals a pretty big change of direction in terms of attack. And by big I mean a guy who is 6’3″ and weighs 190lbs and who will be real handful in the air for opposition defenses.

7am

Follow Tim on twitter @7amkickoff and on 7amkickoff.com

All data via ESPN and Opta

*Leads his league in this stat

**Leads all of the top five European leagues in this stat