Arsène Wenger backs new Arsenal strikers Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud

Arsenal's German striker Lukas Podolski (GETTY IMAGES)

Arsène Wenger has defended his new strike force and is confident they will begin to fire soon.

Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud and Gervinho played up front in Arsenal's goalless draw at Stoke on Saturday and failed to score for the second successive match following the sale of striker Robin van Persie.

But the Arsenal manager said: "The more you speak about the problem the bigger it becomes in our game. I think Giroud should not think he has to replace Van Persie with the number of goals he has to score. We want to play well as a team and, if you play well as a team, you score goals."