Emirates Stadium forward hit with three match ban for headbutt.
Arsene Wenger has admitted that referee Martin Atkinson had no choice other than to send off Olivier Giroud after he headbutted QPR defender Nedum Onuoha on Boxing Day according to the BBC.
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The French forward may have felt that Ohuoha had deliberately pushed him into onrushing keeper Robert Green though Wenger didn’t attempt to justify the Gunners striker’s actions.
“It was a deserved red card,” said Wenger
“Madness is a strong word – he didn’t kill him. But he touched him and should not have done it.”
“Olivier Giroud knows he made a mistake and I know him well enough to think that he will not do it again,” added Wenger, whose team are now sixth in the league.
“He told me he was pushed in the back and that projected him into the keeper. Usually he’s a guy who’s in control of his response.”
Giroud will now miss three games and this could leave Wenger having to call upon the likes of Yaya Sanogo or Lukas Podolski to replace the 28 year old striker.