Arsenal might have been sucker-punched against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, but from Olivier Giroud’s point of view it was another good day at the office.

The French international has become the No 1 choice for his country and his goal against Dortmund was his seventh of a promising season in all competitions.

That has been achieved in just 13 games.

I always thought Giroud would come good thanks to his tendency to explode into life in his second season for every other club he has played for.

And it was not like he was poor in his debut season, especially when it came to setting up his team-mates. But he seems to be more confident and composed.

What has changed?

First of all, his team-mates are more familiar with the tendency of his movements in and around the box. In a fantastic piece of analysis, regular Off The Ball contributor Pat Nevin recently pointed out that many of Giroud’s runs see him pull towards the near post on many occasions.

Nevin used the example of his goal against Tottenham to illustrate the point where he starts on the far side of the box before darting between the defender and the ball.

Even if defenders know what Giroud's favourite runs are, stopping him from exploiting space is easier said than done in the full flow of a game, especially with his team-mates' distracting movement.

You could argue that the goal against Dortmund saw him make a similar run, although he did require goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller to drop Bacary Sagna’s cross.

A rather surprising point is that his accuracy of his shots was better last season in terms of how many attempts hit the target. But, crucially what has actually improved is his chance conversion rate.

Last season, he only converted just over 10 per cent of the goalscoring opportunities that fell to him.

But this season, that rate has almost doubled to almost 20 per cent which shows that he has become more efficient when presented with the chances he was fluffing last term.

It also helps to have a creative hub like Mesut Ozil laying on chances for him. The new signing set up Giroud's goal in the 2 - 0 win over Napoli as well as his goal against Sunderland. Only David Silva has made more key passes per game this season, service that any striker would thrive off - even indirectly.

So for now it seems the stars are aligning. With better service, greater familiarity with the Premier League and increased efficiency in front of goal, Giroud could come close to breaching the 20-goal mark he often tends to do in a second season for a club.