Football news - Olivier Giroud impressed against Tottenham and he should be the first-choice striker

Being young and English is - as per usual in the Premier League - the in-thing. But Giroud showed on Saturday that being patient, working hard and seizing your opportunity is how you prove your point as the Frenchman competes to be Chelsea's first-choice striker.

After Michy Batshuayi's disappointing performance against Manchester United and Tammy Abraham making the bench against Spurs following an injury lay-off, the 33-year-old was handed his first Chelsea start since November in a 2-1 victory over Tottenham to register their first league double over their London rivals in 14 years.

In the 16th minute Giroud converted a well-taken half-volley and, overall, produced a well-rounded commanding display as Chelsea's solo striker, tracking back to help the team out defensively and proving a handful for Tottenham who struggled to contain him despite fielding three centre backs.

Opta brought out a thought-provoking stat during the game. Giroud has been directly involved in 14 goals in his last 14 starts for Chelsea in all competitions, scoring 10 and assisting four. That is brutally efficient considering those 14 games span back to April 2019.

Of course Giroud is competing with a 22-year-old Abraham, whose most memorable contribution to the Spurs game when coming on as a 71st minute substitute was missing a glorious chance a matter of yards out before taking a hit to his manhood as he collided into the post.

Abraham is a very good player and had a remarkable purple patch in late August to mid-September where he scored seven goals in the space of three matches. But based on current form, does he deserve to start for Chelsea?

The former Bristol City, Swansea and Aston Villa loanee has not scored in his last four games and has only scored once this year which came against Burnley on January 11. This has impacted Chelsea whose victory over Jose Mourinho's Spurs was their first in the league in five matches since... Burnley.

Giroud was attracting plenty of interest in the January transfer window and, like Abraham, is looking to seal his place in his national team squad at Euro 2020 so seeking a move was understandable.

Nevertheless the former Arsenal striker was told to stay put which you have to think is because Frank Lampard is thinking of using him now and again.

Putting the experienced World Cup winner behind Batshuayi in the pecking order seemed to be a bizarre move from Lampard when the Belgian has scored just the once in 14 Premier League appearances this season, compared to Giroud's one in seven games.

A criticism aimed at Chelsea this season is the amount of points they have dropped at home and against their top six rivals. Having an experienced head in the team like Giroud in a team who have one of the youngest average age starting XIs in the Premier League this season could help alleviate that.

Giroud has simply not been involved as much as he should have been at this point in the season and deserves a run in the team.